


The Cotton Candy Summer

by UltimateBitch666



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Horses, Inaccuracies, M/M, Multi, Road Trip, Romance, Summer Vacation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-08-20
Packaged: 2018-03-31 12:11:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3977551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UltimateBitch666/pseuds/UltimateBitch666
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Farkle decides to go with Lucas to Texas for summer vacation to save all their friendships. Things he had not thought of happens. Can they both handle it? Or, will they fall from the pressure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was the start of the last week of school and the end of the year was rapidly exciting the students for their awaiting 'summer in the sun'. The fantastic foursome of friends was all sitting at the remodeled 'Svorski's' at the tables close to the doors. Riley was talking animatedly about a movie she had gone to see with her family while Maya tagged along. The rest of the group, with the exception of Farkle, was gently laughing at the girl's excited antics.

Farkle was lost in his own mind, a place easy to lose yourself in when there was so much information gathered inside of it. However, Farkle wasn't thinking of his plan for world domination. His thoughts were centered more closely in the near future. He thought about the upcoming end of the school year. He wondered if things would be different this time around. School would be over and the foursome of friends wouldn't be as inclined to gather around each other as much, well except maybe Maya and Riley. School wouldn't be there to bring them together each week day and occasionally the weekends.

Farkle shook his head gently thinking back on all the previous years. They had stayed together all this time, what’s one more summer he questioned himself. But he also reminded himself that there was a 'not so new anymore' addition to the group. True, Lucas had been with them for a while now and had been easily accepted into the once trio, but Farkle knew that anything could happen over the summer vacation.

There was an insistent tug on his sleeve that had pulled him out of his deepening depressing thoughts. He glanced over at Lucas, his face inquiring. Farkle shrugged wishing to get back to his thoughts. Farkle planned on zoning out again, although, he knew it was rude he just wanted to access the possible outcomes that could form over the summer months. But he noticed that everyone had stopped to stare at him.

"What?" His voice croaked and he had to clear his throat before repeating himself.

"I asked what your plans were for summer." Riley spoke, her voice curious. Beside her Maya snorted and raised her head from where it had been lying against her palm.

"Probably planning his _eventual_ domination of the world." Maya said her voice amused and kind, albeit, slightly teasing.

Farkle let a smile slip across his face as he momentarily let himself push aside his growing worries and focus on his friends.

In fact he hadn't gotten a chance to think about what he was going to do over the summer. Usually he and his family go on vacation but there had been no dinner discussion over the matter this year. Last year the Minkus family went to Florida to visit some family before they boarded a cruise line and saw all of Europe.

"I don't really know, last year we went on a cruise. I suppose this year we may visit Australia. My mother has always wanted to go there but we haven't, not yet." He answered with a small shrug. Riley had perked up at the mention of his last vacation, probably remembering him telling her and Maya about the Scottish cheese roll contest.

"Ooh! I remember last year you said that you had docked in Ireland or Scotland and there was that cheese roll thing." Farkle's suspicions were proved correct as Riley excitedly recounted the conversation with spastic limbs. She was telling Lucas because Maya had already known the story. Lucas was watching her, his eyes lit with amusement as he watched her go through many emotions in the span of a few minutes.

Riley was in the middle of telling Lucas the part of the story where one of the contestants knocked over Farkle and they both went spiraling down the steep hill. Farkle smiled at the memory, sure at the time he found it more painful than funny, but the pain was only a distant ache and now he could see the amusing part. Maya was laughing along with Riley and Lucas at the story as well and at that moment everything was perfect.

The rest of the evening spent in the Svorski's turned Topanga's bakery in merriment and retelling of summers past. The clock was nearing around six when everyone was about to start their trek back to their respective homes when suddenly Riley swung out her arms frantically. Everyone stopped to look at her with confusion and slight worry as her face contorted with remembrance. It was such an anti-climactic break when all she wanted to know was what Lucas was planning to do over the summer.

Lucas was speechless for a few seconds still recovering from the scene that had just taken place. "Um, well my Uncle Patrick just came up from Austin to visit us a few weeks ago and he is due to head back down after the school years ends. I was going to head back with him for the majority of the summer." And that, that was what had Farkle's mind clogging up and short circuiting.

Things would change, if he, Riley, and Maya were to even hang out it would be abnormal without the Texan. He was so absorbed into their everyday lives that things would be incomplete without the 'Ranger Rick' taunts from Maya. Or, the clumsy crushes between him and Riley. But he was also Farkle's best friend and that that was just not okay. He couldn't just leave, and yeah, Farkle may leave for vacation but Lucas was so much more than what Farkle was. Farkle was guaranteed to return, he always would but what if Lucas found that he really didn't want to come back? What if he wanted to stay in his hometown and not come back to the friends he had made in New York?

A part in his brain knew he was being just a bit preposterous but it just wasn't okay with Farkle. He didn't want Lucas to go, whether, he thinks he may be a freak sometimes or not he just couldn't go. His absence would destroy the normalcy congregated through the school year and it would be forever gone. Maya would have no one to taunt, Riley would be devastated, Farkle would--Farkle would--Farkle didn't know what Farkle would do.

Farkle faintly realized that there was a hand shaking his shoulder gently but Farkle was not ready to face the reality of the subject yet. But the shaking was insistent and it was getting harder and more annoying. Just as Farkle resided to the fate of returning to a situation he didn't want to be in there was a harsh slap across his left cheek. The skin tingled and he felt the blood rushing to the spot. He looked up at the aggressor and frowned as he saw Maya's hand extended. The mark where she had hit was throbbing lightly and had begun to hurt rather painfully.

"What was that for?!" Farkle growled lowly as he placed a hand on his searing cheek. He rubbed the spot to try and rid himself of the throbbing pain but it only ebbed a little.

"You were spacing out." She said rather simply as if there wasn't a thing wrong with what she did. But the hurt in his face proved to Farkle that there was something very wrong with what she did indeed.

"So you smack him." That was Lucas. He was standing on Farkle's right and his large hand was gripping his shoulder gently. Farkle kind of wondered why they let her smack him in the first place.

"You let me." She said moving towards the door, her hand pulling at Riley's.

"I didn't know that was what you going to do." Lucas' voice went low and he looked angrily at Maya. Farkle thought he looked just like he did when he had pushed the school bully up against the set of lockers and kind of but not really threatened him. Farkle was confused; upset, hurt, and he just wanted to get home so he could think in his room without getting slapped in the face.

Maya and Riley had left Topanga's and were heading, probably to Riley's house. Lucas turned to Farkle fully and took away the hand that was still holding his cheek. "Are you alright? How much does it hurt?" Lucas had replaced his hand with his own and was looking at Farkle with this unreadable expression, it made Farkle feel a strange sort of excitement zip through his veins.

"I'm alright and it doesn't hurt that bad anymore. It's fine." Farkle stepped back from Lucas' hand when the strange feeling passed and watched it drop to his side. Lucas took a step back as well and looked at him curiously.

"A penny for your thoughts." He had to move out from in front of the door when a couple tried to come through them. Farkle noticed that the feeling was back as Lucas was standing close again as he had stepped forward to move out of the way.

"What?" Farkle furrowed his brows and frowned as he tried to remember where he had heard the saying before.

"What were you thinking of so much that you had to space out?" Lucas had become aware of the lack of a distance between them again and sidestepped.

"Oh, I was just thinking about school. Wondering how I'm going to stay ahead over the summer." It was lie and Farkle didn't even realize the point of lying. There was nothing wrong with worrying over a friend but Farkle just didn't want to tell Lucas that.

"I'm sure you'll find a way." Lucas was smiling his teeth showing and his eyebrows falling from where they had risen. He was no longer holding onto the anger from a few minutes ago and Farkle didn't know he had cared that much but he found that he relaxed slightly.

"Yeah, I always do. We should go though." Farkle gestured towards the clock hanging on the wall opposite them and stepped towards the door. He heard the soft footsteps of Lucas' shoes behind them as they said goodbye to Ms. Hart over their shoulders and walked out of the bakery. He took two steps to the right before there was a gentle hand wrapping around his wrist keeping him in place. He looked over his shoulder to peer at Lucas in question.

"Be car--goodnight Farkle. See you tomorrow at school." Lucas released Farkle's wrist and turned the opposite direction heading towards his own home. Farkle had turned all the way around and watched Lucas walk away in wonder. When he could no longer see the outline of the boy he turned around and walked up the steps, turning around the corner and making his own way to his home.

<3

It was Tuesday and the fantastic four had all met up at Riley’s fire escape to walk to school together. Farkle had at first thought it was weird for Lucas to be there considering he wasn’t usually. Though, he pushed it away and thought about the upcoming slew of knowledge that was sure to await at school. When Riley began to escape down the fire escape (Ha! I'm horrible, I'll accept your judgment) the group began to head their way to school.

<3

They were all settled down in Mr. Matthews’s history class except for Farkle. No one was worried though Farkle always showed sometimes late but always there. And it was proved right when he dashed into the room just as Mr. Matthews was about to begin speaking. Idly, Mr. Matthews wondered if the kid had radar. Mr. Matthews waited for a minute as Farkle slammed down into his seat looking at him with rapt attention.

"In consideration that this is the last week of school we won't have any homework for the remainder of the week--no Farkle you cannot get an assignment anyway so put your hand down." Mr. Matthews watched his class murmur excitedly as they discussed summer vacation plans. Farkle, the only student upset that there was no homework sunk in his seat and sulked. There had been no homework for any of his other classes either and he thought for sure that he could count on Mr. Matthews, the traitor. He was also upset that after Mr. Matthews announced that there would be no homework he also denied his _almost_ spoken request.

Riley and Maya was talking about plans for the summer and what they'd do. It was all anyone could talk about considering it was so close. Farkle was tired of hearing about summer vacation; he was ready for the new school year to start already. But that wasn't actually his sole reason for tiring from the subject. The fact that Lucas would be leaving still clung to the forefront of his mind.

He tried to push it aside by quelling his fears but it never seemed to be enough. Farkle thought that since Riley and Lucas both had established crushes on each other that that would be enough to make Lucas find his way back in New York. Or the fact that Lucas' parents would still be here in New York and he can't leave them. But that was a void option considering they packed up and moved here, what was stopping them from moving back? And sure Lucas had apparently changed a lot since he had moved from Austin but what if he fell into old habits? So many outcomes to make it to where Lucas wouldn't come back that Farkle just couldn't suppress the headache that began.

Farkle was yet again snapped out of his thoughts but this time it had been Mr. Matthews telling him class was over. Farkle looked around and saw Lucas sitting on the edge of his desk watching him with that unreadable expression again. Riley and Maya had apparently already left without him and Lucas. Farkle picked up his already packed bag and walked with Lucas out of the classroom and into the hall where they saw Maya and Riley standing by their lockers.

<3

Farkle had walked into his house to the smell of strawberries and cream. He took a deep breath and exhaled as walked up into his room calling out a late greeting to his mom. When he was in the refuge of his room he slunk down to the floor his back pressing against his door. He stretched out his legs and allowed himself to just breathe in. He inhaled the familiar scent of lavender and vanilla that wafted throughout his entire room.

Farkle was beyond upset. All of his teachers had proclaimed the end of homework _and_ refused to give him any to last the week. I mean what did they expect him to do, _nothing_ probably, it was infuriating. He needed that work; it would be the thing that kept his mind busy from thinking about summer. That way he could pretend that it wasn't so close.

<3

That night at dinner Farkle was unusually quiet. His family didn't seem to take notice though because Farkle's father could talk enough for the whole family. Usually Farkle would be paying rapt attention to anything his father said about his job but he just didn't feel into it today. He just pushed his mashed potatoes around his plate mixing it with the sliced steak. His attention was soon captured though as his father called out to him from the other side of the table.

"Farkle. Your aunt Beatrice will be staying here for a few weeks." Farkle frowned at that, he _liked_ his aunt well enough but she wasn't really a pleasure to be around all the time. She was kind of eccentric and had these weird antics when she was happy.

"How come?" Farkle set down his fork and turned his full attention on his parents.

"The company is having a conference in London and the client would like to get to know more about the company and who's running it before he invests any money into it. Your mother and I will be gone for a few weeks, two-three tops. And we'll need someone to watch over you and your sister." His father had a grin plastered over his face, most likely caused by the prospect of overseeing the negotiations that were likely to happen.

"But I could watch over Baylee and myself just fine, we don't need a _babysitter._ " Farkle frowned deeper at the mere thought of being left with his aunt.

"I just wouldn't feel comfortable leaving you two alone, especially when you go off with your friends for most of the day Farkle." His mother sighed as she looked at him with this look that had Farkle sliding down in his chair.

"I don't want a babysitter. Aunt Beatrice never lets me do anything." That was Baylee; she had been eating quietly and acting much like Farkle.

"I'm sorry kids but there isn't any more to discuss, you will have a babysitter. Beatrice will be here this following Monday." Stuart, Farkle's dad went back to eating and discussing with his wife the joys of signing with this client. Without them noticing Farkle pushed away from his food and left the kitchen to head upstairs to his bedroom.

As Farkle laid upstairs in his room he thought about his current predicament. Before, Farkle could fill his mind with the thought that he wouldn't actually be here to mourn the leaving of Lucas; he'd be somewhere trying not to think of it. Now, there wasn't any prospect of forgetting that Lucas was leaving, he'd be here to witness the rift it tore in the group of close friends. Trying and failing to find a solution to this problem, Farkle fell asleep sprawled out on his bed.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Farkle hadn't been present to walk Riley to school with the rest of the group of friends that morning and they wondered where he was. While they made the trek to school, their conversations centered on the odd behavior presented by the little Einstein (yea I know). They all made it to school and searched for Farkle but he just wasn't there and they (Riley and Lucas) began to worry what had happened.

When history class came rolling around and Farkle hadn't even shown up late the trio and Mr. Matthews was worried. The class went on without the usual interruptions or 'Farkle Time' and the whole room seemed to be silent without the eccentric presence. The rest of the day was uncomfortable and filled with tension as no one knew where the forth of their quad member was. Riley attempted to lighten the atmosphere the best way she could but even that didn't fully dispel the tension hanging above their heads.

It wasn't as if the remaining group hadn't tried to contact the genius, they had, and he just hadn't answered them yet. They wanted to go to his house but none of them were really sure where he lived, not even Riley and Maya, who had known him since the first grade. When school had come to a close for the day, Riley, Maya, and Lucas was unsure of what to do. They wanted to go to Topanga's and see if Farkle would be there but some part of them knew he wasn't going to be there if he hadn't been at school.

The group split in two, Maya and Riley went to hang out at Riley's house and Lucas headed home.

<3

Farkle's eyes fluttered as the sleep that covered him broke apart like a torn web. He rubbed at his eyes as he pushed himself up and enjoyed the warmth that the sun shone on him from his window. ---the. Sun. is...UP! Farkle scrambled out of bed almost falling flat on his face as he tripped over the stubborn covers that seemed to refuse to let him go. He rolled of the side of his bed and shot up, he whipped around to stare at his alarm clock with trepidation. It was 8:16am and Farkle almost fainted as he pinched himself and realized with growing dread that this was NOT a dream.

The horror stricken boy crumbled to the floor on his knees and almost succumbed to the urge to cry when he realized that his teachers were teaching without him. Farkle squeezed his eyes shut as he crossed his hand over his heart and _prayed_ that the flashing numbers on his clock was just a trick of the light. He opened his eyes slowly peeking up through his bangs toward the offending electronic box that sat on his bedside table. It was now 8:17am and Farkle fell onto his back, his legs still awkwardly trapped under him.

Kicking out his legs, Farkle began to stand trying to come to the realization that he would be missing a lecture in Algebra. He got up and walked to his closet to pick out an outfit. He chose a green turtleneck sweater and red plaid over shirt with some dark blue jeans. He walked into the connected bathroom with the clothes and turned on the shower.

After showering and doing his full morning routine of primping himself he headed out back to his room to grab his bag. He flew down the stairs now determined to get to school before his next class started. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he heard hurried steps coming from the kitchen. He turned his head to see his mom in a red apron with batter coated in patches on it.

"Honey! What are you still doing here?" She had begun walking towards Farkle as she dusted powder from her hands.

"I slept through my alarm." Farkle scratched his cheek in embarrassment as he now stood in front of his mom. She looked like a mix between astonished and worried. "Now I have to get to school before the next train leaves so I don't miss anything else in class." Farkle was waiting until he was told he was dismissed but his mother had a small smile stretched across her face.

"Well, if you want to go to school you can but if you want to stay home that's alright too. After all it is the last week of the school year." And---that was right, it was the last week of school, Farkle had totally forgotten in his hurried/depressed state of mind. None of the teachers were giving out any assignments and he wouldn't be missing anything by staying home. So there wasn't a reason for him to go.

But, but he still had to tend to his girls. But he hadn't been doing that lately either because of his depressed state and they were doing well on their own. But Lucas, he was Lucas' best friend and best friends are there for each other. Yeah. He could go for Lucas. But---Lucas really didn't actually need him there; Farkle was just kind of always there. And if Farkle wasn't there then--Lucas would be alright too. Farkle---Farkle didn't have a place among his friends anymo--sigh--Farkle didn't have a place amongst his friends. It couldn't have been a new development because there would have to be a new member to take his place, but there wasn't and that meant that Farkle never had a place.

Farkle looked up at his worrying mom and did a slight nod. "I'll stay home, thank you." Farkle turned around to head back to his room but the hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Well if you’re going to stay home from school, for the first time in like--forever, you’re going to help your old mother." She was smiling down at him and turned around to march back in the kitchen.

"You’re not _that_ old." Farkle mumbled as he trailed after her gloomily. He set down his bag in one of the kitchen chairs and watched his mom flitter around the kitchen trying and failing to make--biscuits?

"Farkle come on and help me." Her laugh was soft as she peered over her shoulder at the boy looking at her in question.

They ended up with lumpy and brittle biscuits that could and would not be eaten. Farkle was covered in thick patches of sticky powdery goop and he couldn't even be that upset because his mother was covered in raw egg, flour, and what was probably strawberry jam. He smiled wide as he mentally replayed the food fight from earlier.

"Honey, I'm going to go to shopping after I take a shower. Would you like to go?" Farkle's mom was trying to wipe off a patch of congregated egg and flour from her white blouse. Farkle decided that yes, he did want to go because he didn't want to stay here and think.

"Uh, yeah, I'd like that. A lot actually." Farkle scratched at his cheek feeling dried goop flaking off.

"Okay! Well first break apart those biscuits and feed them to the birds and then go take a shower." She trailed out of the room after taking off the apron and kissing Farkle's head. She licked her mouth and frowned as she now had strawberry jam smattered over her lips. Farkle laughed as he watched her use her sleeve to wipe it off.

Farkle used the hammer that they kept in the bottom drawer in the kitchen to smash the biscuits into small croton-like bits. He pushed them all in a bag and carried them out onto the terrace that was never used. He threw them across the platform for the birds and then left up to his room. After his second shower, which he found that there was a lot of jam caked in his hair, Farkle threw on a blue turtleneck sweater. He pulled on a red, blue, and black plaid over shirt with some red jeans.

When he got down stairs his mom was sitting on the couch, waiting. She lifted off the couch when she saw him and they headed out of the house. When Farkle stepped across the threshold he felt this sort of electric feeling ooze slowly through his spine. He stopped and clutched at his stomach as warmth settled at his core.

"Mom, what time is it?" Farkle was positive he knew the answer but he wanted to be right. His mom checked the watch on her wrist and looked over at him curiously.

"It's 11:15am. Why?" Farkle just shrugged and nodded as he mentally pictured Mr. Matthews greeting the class. After Farkle got back his bearings they continued on.

<3

The whole day was filled with shopping, changing stores, shopping, changing stores, shopping, etc. Farkle doesn't think he could be any more mentally exhausted. His mom could shop _forever._ I mean how much stuff did you need to take with you when you were going to a conference? Farkle, however, did get some new clothes and two delicious meals. By the time they were home it was close to 6:45pm.

Stuart, Farkle's dad was sitting on the couch looking over some papers; Baylee was seated next to him watching television. When Farkle and his mom came through the door both occupants looked up and raised their eyebrows at the various amounts of bags clutched in two sets of hands. Baylee lifted off the couch and tried to peer inside the bags without actually trying to take any.

"I ordered pizza." Farkle's dad said, his head looking back down at his papers.

Farkle and his mom shuffled into the room, pushing Baylee aside to step into the home. Baylee pouted but then smiled as she was handed two bags of her own. When she was about to look through them mom told her that they weren't _hers_ in which she pouted again. Farkle placed the bags on the table by the stairs and rolled his shoulders in relief.

"You didn't go to school today. Cor--Mr. Matthews called." From the couch Farkle's dad was looking at him with raised brows.

"They weren't giving any more homework since it was the end of the year." Farkle's dad nodded once and turned back to his papers. "I expect you to be there tomorrow."

Farkle nodded even though he knew that his dad couldn't see it. He parted the shopping bags from what was his and what was his mom's. The doorbell rung through the house and Baylee scrambled to the door with some money in her hands. It was the pizza guy; Baylee gave the man twenty-five dollars and accepted the large pizza when it was given.

The pizza was brought to the kitchen and laid on the cleaned table. Farkle opened the box to see what kind it was, it was Hawaiian. Baylee brought four plates from the cabinets and laid them by the box. Farkle's mom and dad were still in the living room, he could hear them (his mom) discussing everything she bought. Farkle grabbed two slices and sat down at the end of the table where he began to eat.

All day he had been so focused and kept occupied that he didn't have time to think about what he was to his--friends? Was he their friend? They didn't need him; friends needed each other that was what made them work. He doubted any of them even noticed his missing presence. Maybe he needed them more than they needed him--right, they didn't need him, and he was just there.

But even so, even if that happened to be the case, Maya and Riley needed Lucas at least. And whether his ladies needed him he still wanted to make sure that they were happy. If Lucas left, Farkle couldn't compensate for that. He couldn't let Lucas be persuaded by his old country buddies to stay in the Texas, or return to his old ways either, no, Farkle had to stop at least that. If he couldn't stop Lucas from going to Texas he was just going to have to stop him from staying there. But Farkle didn't know _how._

Suddenly there was a hand waving in front of his face, interrupting his thoughts. It was his mom; she looked at him curiously as she watched him come back to earth or their kitchen.

"Something wrong, you've been spacing out a lot lately." Really? He hadn't noticed that, well, he didn't think he had spaced out around his mom.

"My friend Lucas asked if I wanted to go on vacation with him." Is what came out of Farkle's mouth. Farkle mentally slammed his head against a brick wall; unfortunately it didn't hurt as much as he had hoped. But it was too late to change what was said and really what was he thinking? He was starting to find his own self useless.

"Oh really?" Her face contorted with shock as she adjusted to subject change.

"Yeah, he and his uncle were driving to Austin and asked if I wanted to come. I can go right?" Farkle made his voice sound pleading as he looked up at her with big blue eyes.

"Austin. Texas! I-I," she sighed deeply, "I don't see there being any problem with that. Is Lucas in your class?" She rubbed her palm over her forehead as she thought about what she just agreed to.

"Yes. Along with Maya and Riley." Farkle was frozen; he hadn't actually thought that she would agree to it. I mean his parents were pretty lenient when it came to where he could and couldn't go but all the way to Texas, he didn't think it would have been that easy.

"Well, uh, go ask your father as well." She walked into the living room and left Farkle to think over the situation he had gotten himself into. He pushed away the half eaten pizza and began a slow tread into the living room.

"Dad. Coul--," Farkle watched as his dad lifted his head to peer at him and suddenly anxiousness pulsed coldly through his veins. "--Could I go to Texas with one of my friends?"

Farkle saw his mom sitting on the edge of the couch watching as his dad pondered over the request. "Sure." And he turned around back to his work and ignored everyone else once again.

Farkle turned startled eyes towards his mom who wore a similar expression. Farkle nodded and turned away to walk past his mom and head up the stairs toward his room. Farkle felt numb when he fell into bed, he just lied about going to Texas. He just LIED to his _parents_ about being invited to go to Texas with Lucas. He was so dead. Before Farkle went to sleep he SET his alarm clock and snuggled in bed, unaware of the missed messages flashing across his phone, the one he left home ALL day.

<3

Farkle woke up to the glorious sound of his alarm clock. The annoying repetitive BEEPS echoing around the room. He cut off the object and reveled in the dark blue sky that greeted him outside his window. Farkle threw off the covers and practically skipped to his closet to grab his outfit. Since he was feeling quite spontaneously joyous that Farkle picked each item at random.

Farkle had grabbed a black turtleneck sweater with a green plaid over shirt and some light khakis. Humming, Farkle danced his way towards the bathroom and turned the spray on warm. When the warm liquid began to roll in rivulets down his chest, Farkle realized with a jolt that yesterday night had actually happened. His parents had agreed to him going to Texas, BOTH his parents had agreed to him going to TEXAS. Suddenly Farkle felt very faint.

Farkle leaned his head against the tile wall and listened to the water hitting the bottom of the tub. He was screwed. Farkle picked up his head and continued washing his body. For the remainder of the shower, Farkle thought about how if Lucas agreed to him going to Texas with him and his uncle. It--it would be the perfect opportunity to make sure that Lucas doesn't want to stay in Texas. Farkle smacked himself across the forehead and mentally chided himself as he wondered why he hadn't thought of that in the first place.

Farkle jumped out of the shower and rushed his morning routine to hurry and get to the Matthews' house. He grabbed his bag and took a swipe at his phone but it fell off his bedside table and crashed to the floor. The battery fell out the back and skittered underneath his bed. Sighing, Farkle bent down and picked up the battery and the back to his phone and popped them back in place. He held the power button but the screen was still black, it must have been dead. He grabbed his charger and threw them both in his bag before running down the stairs.

He didn’t wait for his mom to say goodbye this time; Farkle sprinted out the front door and into the surprisingly cool morning air. He ran to the end of the street and slowed down, no need to get sweaty before school starts, he told himself. He wished his phone wasn’t dead so he could check the time but as it was he couldn’t do anything but walk the way to Riley’s house. It was just starting to grow brighter and brighter over the rooftops when he arrived at Riley’s fire escape. He was all alone and he chosen to wait up against the ladder for the rest of the group to get here.

Lucas was the next to show up. When he spotted Farkle he jogged the rest of the way over and just kind of stared at him. Farkle was confused and was about to ask what he doing but Lucas started speaking first.

"We mi—," he was cut off as Maya peered her head out of Riley’s window and shouted down.

"Farky! Where were you yesterday? We didn’t have your everlasting ramble yesterday to distract us." And Farkle sighed, he knew it. He wasn’t needed all he was, was a distraction that got in their way of growing. Farkle shrugged and stared down at his converses before looking towards Lucas remembering he was saying something. He was smiling softly up at Maya through the window.

"What were going to say?" Lucas turned to Farkle and raised his eyebrows in question. He ‘hmm-ed’ and shook his head.

"Maya already said it." He was smiling again and looked up when the ladder from the fire escape began to groan from the weight of the girls climbing down on it.

"Ladies." Farkle greeted with a slight smile.

"Farkle." Riley and Maya greeted simultaneously. And at that he did smile, a real smile. They began to walk towards school when Farkle remembered what he had to ask Lucas. Farkle inhaled deeply trying to mentally prepare himself. He tugged on Lucas’ shirt and slowed his pace so they would fall back a bit. Lucas got the hint and trailed at the same pace looking at him curiously.

"Sooo, Lucas. My man. Do you think that maybe, I could kind of, sort of, come with you and your uncle to Texas?" Farkle pressed his lips together and hopped on his toes as he watched Lucas. Lucas looked at him with raised brows and fish mouthed a few times before he inhaled deeply and looked, actually looked at Farkle.

"Why?" Which really, it was a fair question it was just not what Farkle had expected and now he had to think up an answer.

"Well, my mom and dad are going away to London for a conference and I don’t actually want to be alone for summer vacation." Farkle carefully left out the part about having a babysitter and—oh, the fact that he had already told his parents that he was going to Texas with him.

"Don’t you have a sister?" His voice was incredulous and Farkle kind of hated that he remembered that. He hoped he hadn’t remembered if he had said her age because he was going to lie.

"Yeah, but she’s three and they are taking her with them." She is actually ten and staying home as well. Farkle knew that even if he told the truth in his head it wouldn’t make the lies he was saying any less of a lie but it made him feel better.

"Oh, I don’t know Farkle—," Farkle sighed but then quirked up as he got an idea.

"Well if your uncle needs convincing I could talk to him. Once he meets my awesome personality and quick intellect there is no way he’ll say no. Guaranteed." Farkle nodded for effect as he watched Lucas’ face contort with amusement. He didn’t know what was funny; Farkle could charm Lucas’ uncle and be admitted onto the trip easily. Yep, great plan. Who could say no to Farkle? Well, actually you know let’s not get into that.

"No. I think that’ll be unnecessary. I’ll talk to him, okay?" That wasn’t Farkle’s brilliant plan but it seemed effective so Farkle nodded along. Lucas chuckled as he looked at Farkle one more time before fastening his pace to catch up with the girls.

Farkle stayed behind for a few seconds only to do an air fist bump before catching up as well. Plan: Protect Lucas’ friendship with Maya and Riley was a go, maybe. He decided belatedly that he might need to work on the title later as well.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes or No? This is not beta-ed.


	3. Chapter 3

It was Friday morning and Farkle had just arrived at Riley's fire escape. Once again he was alone and left to stand against the rusty old ladder that led to Riley's window. His phone was fully charged and he checked the time after ten minutes of silence. It was at that moment that Maya came racing down the alley; she bypassed Farkle without a word and began to climb the fire escape up to Riley's bedroom.

Farkle wondered what was going on and began to climb the fire escape when he heard his name being called. He looked over his shoulder to see Lucas running up to him. Farkle let go of the ladder and fell on his feet the few inches he rose off the ground. "I have good news and I bad news. Which would you like to hear first? Pick the good news." Lucas smiled down at Farkle as he told him which choice to choose.

"Okay, well it's a hard decision. Good news, or bad news. Hmm...I think I'll choose the...bad news please." Farkle smiled big as he saw the amused yet totally exasperated look on Lucas' face. "Kidding, HA!"

"Well, good news is my uncle Patrick said he's fine with you coming along as your long as your parents are okay with it." Lucas was smiling and Farkle couldn't help but wish he had a camera for this moment. "The bad news, however, is that...do you have motion sickness at all?" Lucas asked suddenly, and Farkle was going to go out on a limb here and guess that the bad news had to do something about having motion sickness.

"No. Not if I'm occupied." Which is the truth for once in the first few days. He did get the feeling of motion sickness but he had never actually thrown up before.

"What do you mean?" Lucas was frowning now.

"I mean that if I'm not thinking about it, then I'm fine." Farkle adjust the strap on his shoulder since it was determined to fall down.

"Okay. Well in that case I'll text my uncle Patrick and tell him that you're good on motion sickness. I need your parents number to give to him though so he can check with them. If that's okay?" Farkle nodded and read off the digits to his mom's phone number. Lucas smiled as he sent the number to his uncle Patrick.

"My mom and dad already know, I asked them yesterday, just in case." And yep, we're back to lying. Lucas looked at him and then averted his attention to Riley's window.

"Ladies." Farkle wanted to talk more about the subject with Lucas but the girls were coming down and, he didn't know why, but he didn't want them to know.

"Farkle. Lucas" They both greeted as they ascended the alleyway pavement. The walk to school was a seemingly short one and Farkle wondered what the teachers would do for the last day of the school year.

<3

Once in history class, Farkle was filled with brownies and cakes of different varieties as all the teachers brought store bought delicacies for the last day of school. When Farkle reached his seat he laid his head on his desk and clutched at his stomach, he was never eating another thing ever again, he told himself. He looked up when he heard Mr. Matthews begin to welcome the classroom. Sitting innocently on Mr. Matthews desk was two large trays of different kinds of cookies. Farkle groaned as he lifted himself with sugary energy and walked up to the front of the room with a frown.

Mr. Matthews watched him with a raised eyebrow and took one of the cookies from the trays, chocolate chip, and held it out to Farkle. "Would you like a cookie." Farkle looked at Mr. Matthews with a look of intense constipation, he was pretty sure it was supposed to be anger, and smacked the offending sweet out of his hand.

"NO! NO COOKIE! NO!" Farkle yelled as he whipped around to the rest of the class with a flush to his cheeks. The sweets sugary energy spiking in his blood and causing an overload of energy to flow in his blood. "NO MORE COOKIES! EVER!" Farkle was just about to knock all the cookies off Mr. Matthews desk when the voice of an angel spoke to him.

"You don't like my cookies?" Farkle turned to Riley, her face downcast as she looked like she was about to weep. Farkle faltered, the energy becoming pent up without having a release.

"Y-your cookies?" He asked stupidly as he watched Riley's head fold into her arms. Farkle snapped his head to to the crumbled cookie lying in pieces on the floor. "We have a fallen soldier!" He screeched as he fell to his knees. Farkle gathered the broken pastry and ordered a moment of silence for the sweet. When he stood up he placed the cookie gently into the empty trashcan. He bowed his head and then turned to Mr. Matthews, ignoring the amused smile on his face as he requested another cookie.

"Will you throw it again?" Farkle glowered as he looked up at Mr. Matthews.

"I will not dare harm another of my ladies creations." Farkle took a white chocolate chip cookie and devoured it with his protesting stomach. He turned back to Riley and smiled faintly. Riley was laughing softly along with the rest of the class.

"You idiot, she didn't bake those. They say 'Schnucks' on the top." Maya cackled as she watched Farkle turn to read the label on the platter of cookies. Farkle clutched his stomach and weaved to his seat to sit down but missed and fell on his back in the aisle. He laid there and let the cold tile press into his body.

People gathered around him worriedly as he didn't even attempt to get up off the floor. He saw four familiar heads pop into his vision and groaned as he saw the smile on Maya's face. He closed his eyes and allowed arms to pull him to his wobbly feet. His knees refused to support him and he clutched at a soft blue dress shirt.

"Are you okay Farkle?" There was warm breath against the nape of his neck that travelled pleasantly down his spine. Farkle couldn't suppress the shiver that ran through him as he allowed whoever to carry him to continue to talk into his ear. He closed his eyes and hummed in response. "Well your mom said yes, so I guess we're going to Texas. If you're up for it?" So it was Lucas, that was fine as long as he kept talking.

"Hm-mmm." Farkle confirmed as he dragged his feet, trying to walk. He pressed some weight into his legs, but as soon as he had his knees buckled and he almost slammed into the ground had it not been for the strong arms gripping his shoulders. The sudden movement caused the sweets to stir unpleasantly in his stomach and Farkle groaned. "No more sweets." He concluded as he tried to open his eyes only to have them weigh a _ton_.

"Don't worry, we won't give you _any_ more sweets. Do you have to go to the bathroom?" Farkle blanched at that, what an incredibly inappropriate and invasive question. He made it clear of his opinion on the question as he sqeaked awkwardly trying to pull away.

"To throw up." Lucas had tightened his hold on the squirming boy. Farkle gave up and shook his head. "Do you have to go to the bathroom in _that_ way?"

"Noooo." Farkle grumbled and focused on the change of smell and realized he was in the nurse's office. He peeled open his eyes and stared up at Lucas as he adjusted his grip on the boy to lay him down on one of the hard, uncomfortable plastic beds. He saw the nurse come over and ask Lucas what was wrong. "Too many sweets, teachers trying to punish me for being smart." Farkle gathered enough energy to lay an arm over his eyes to block out the harsh light coming off the ceiling.

The nurse scoffed and Farkle wanted to say something about that but couldn't find it in him to care all that much. The nurse talked with Lucas for a bit and left. Farkle couldn't tell if Lucas was still there but he wouldn't have minded if he had stayed. He didn't know why but Lucas' voice seemed to make him feel just a little bit less like a gooey blob of Farkle.

He heard a chair pull up close to the bed and smiled as he imagined one of the girls sitting by him and petting at his hair. And as soon as the thought passed through his mind was there soft hands cascading through the short tresses of brown hair. He sighed as he leaned into the touch careful of turning onto his stomach.

Farkle felt the pressure change and suddenly there was a body pressed gently above his and they leaned over his still form. "Are you feeling better?" Farkle couldn't hear who's voice it was all he could feel was the warm air rushing over his skin and causing little pin prickles to erupt. He tugged his bottom lip in between his teeth as he felt those warm tingles forming in the core of his abdomen but much stronger. Farkle tried to say something but the words were caught in his throat and all he could do was nod. "Good." Farkle could have convulsed as the words were pressed so close to his ear that there was no where else for them to go. Instead he let a shiver trail cooly over his body and breathed out a sigh.

"I have to go back to class." Farkle could cry, he felt the pressure where the body had displaced the air begin to move away and before he could really think about it he reached out and grabbed the soft fabric of the shirt and shook his head in disagreement. The voice laughed lowly and placed a large, soft hand on top of his own. "I'm sorry." The hand removed his own and Farkle could hear the footsteps fading as they walked away.

<3

It was the end of the day and Farkle was feeling _much_ better. His stomach didn't hurt as much and he was hardly upset with his friends for tricking him, hardly. The nurse had woken him up when it was 3:10pm and told him to have a nice summer vacation. Farkle murmured something along those same lines but he didn't think she had heard him. That's okay, it wasn't that important anyway.

Farkle walked out of the office and was greeted by his friends. _The ones that don't need you._ A voice from the tartarus of the mind spoke in a low hiss. Farkle ignored it and just focused on the smiles etched across each of his friends faces. He smiled also when he remembered the person who was cuddling with him (kind of, not really). Farkle noted the large boxes that Riley and Maya held, things from their lockers shoved into them. He smiled and they all headed to Topanga's to spend their last day of school at their favorite hangout.

It was the time when they usually headed home and everyone was gathering to leave. Riley and Maya left first, and Farkle was about to leave to when he almost forgot to talk more about the trip with Lucas. Farkle spun around quickly almost slamming into the solid body that was following up behind him. Lucas halted and stepped back to look down at Farkle.

"Um, I was wondering if we could talk?" Farkle looked up into Lucas' eyes realizing for the first time since school ended that he looked right upset. He hadn't smiled once and Farkle hadn't even noticed until now. "Are you alright?" Farkle tilted his head to the side and tried to guess what the texan was thinking but he never could these past few days.

"Yeah. What did you want to talk about?" Lucas and Farkle took a seat back on the couches that had been occupied by the four of them before.

"About the trip." Farkle felt like Lucas was waiting for something, waiting for him to do something, but he didn't know what it was.

"Oh, um, yeah. Here, this is some stuff that'll you'll need." Lucas pulled a slightly crumpled piece of notebook paper from his pocket and handed it to Farkle. "We'll meet here tomorrow at eight in the morning, if you have second thoughts on going, then say so before that time." Farkle faintly felt like there was an underlying meaning to what that meant but Lucas was still eluding him. Farkle nodded along though and it must have been the wrong thing to do because suddenly there was a deep frown marring Lucas' face.

"I still want to go. Why wouldn't I?" He tried to pry some information out of Lucas but Lucas just sat there with this intense look. He looked as if there was something that he couldn't understand. Farkle would know, Farkle got that look alot.

Suddenly there was a soft pop and small colorful confetti was falling through the air all over Lucas and Farkle. Farkle looked up at Ms. Hart as she was the one who popped off the confetti. She was gesturing to a couple at the other end of the bakery. A man had just asked his girlfriend to marry him and apparently she had said yes. Farkle's attention was drawn back to his own conversation when he felt hands in his hair.

Large, soft hands carded through his hair and Farkle felt a tingle run through his body as he wondered why this felt so familiar. Unconsciously, Farkle leaned into the touch and looked up into searching green eyes. Lucas was so close to him that he could feel the warmth of his breath waft over his own lips. Parting his lips, Farkle looked into Lucas' eyes as he tried desperately to remember why this was so familiar.

Lucas leaned in more and Farkle fluttered his eyes shut as he felt the air between them grow thinner and thinner. But what Farkle had not expected was the deliciously pleasant chill that ran down his spine and caused him to shudder outwardly when Lucas' lips brushed hotly over his ear.

"Are you okay?" Farkle wanted to open his eyes as realization dawned but he kept them closed and turned his face just slightly towards Lucas'. He waited for Lucas to say something but belatedly remembered he had been asked a question. He nodded once and waited with baited breath for what was to happen next. "Good."

Farkle turned his head as he felt Lucas begin to stand back up. He watched in awe as Lucas stood to his full height and looked down at Farkle with a small smile. Lucas' hand swept in front of Farkle's face and confetti fell out of his open palm as he tipped the small tissue paper into Farkle's lap.

Lucas turned away from Farkle, picked up his bag and left the bakery without a backwards glance. Farkle sat stock still as he processed the information. Numbly, he got up, shouldered his bag and left the bakery as well.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: So so so sorry for the late update. The library that I go to post the chapters went into a break week so no posting. I'm am incredibly, incredibly sorry. This chapter is dedicated to monotonehell and Iceman6599 for being the first people to comment!

That night, after he left Topanga's, Farkle numbly walked home. His whole body tingled and it felt too intact to be real. He felt like the seams that appeared to be stable were slowly unraveling to pool at his feet. Farkle didn't know what to think and that was confusing because he almost always knew what to _think._ But as he made his way home he was so immersed in trying to figure out his own thoughts that he had missed the sleeping accordion player in the alley beside his home.

Farkle walked into his home to find his whole family nestled in the living room watching the end of a film on the television. They hadn't notice him walk into the room yet so Farkle counted that as a win. Farkle crept pass them to head directly up the stairs. When Farkle had reached the top he just sort of stood there for a minute as he tried to just unscramble the mess that was his thoughts. He couldn't even get a good grip on the situation that he was in _now_ , it would take a miracle to work his way through and understand what was happening.

Downstairs, Farkle could hear the TV click off and he scrambled to his room before his family could spot him. When he was across the threshold he pressed his back into the door, much like he had on Monday. He breathed in green apples and honey and just fell to the floor in a pile of sprawled limbs. His head laid across his outstretched arm and he focused on breathing for the moment.

After minutes of mindless dawdling, Farkle rose from the floor and pulled off his clothes to throw them in the wicker hamper sitting by his dresser. For the first time since before Monday did Farkle pull on some sleeping clothes and crawl into bed. It had been just in time because his door opened to pour light from the hallway into his room. His mom looked into the room and her eyes landed on the still form on the bed. Turning away, Farkle's mom closed the door and retreated to her own bedroom.

When Farkle heard the door close with a soft click he pushed the blankets off his body. For a few minutes he just laid there. He now understood why Lucas would ask him if he still would like to go on the trip with him and his uncle. But did he want to? He was just going to protect their friendship and make sure that Lucas still would want to come back to New York. But what was happening with Lucas?

What was wrong with him? Whenever Lucas got even remotely close to him his whole body seemed to thrum excitedly. And that was certainly a new thing for him. It was also new that Lucas had begun to become a lot more close to him. Not close as in 'best friend close' but close as in 'liking Riley close'. And to Farkle even that was just too outrageous for him. Lucas liking Farkle like he liked Riley, no, that wasn't possible. That wasn't possible in a hundred thousand years. But still, Lucas was acting strangely and Farkle didn't know how to plan for this kind of thing, he never even witnessed this kind of thing.

So, the question that Farkle had to answer was if he was still going or not. Yes, Farkle still wanted to watch over Lucas to make sure things were a go with him returning to Riley and Maya. No, Farkle's answer should not be persuaded by the fact that Lucas was acting strangely. In fact, Farkle had acted strangely plenty of times before and Lucas, Riley, and Maya had all tried to find out why; why should Farkle not try to find the reason for his friend's odd behavior?

Farkle was still going, he decided finally. Farkle quietly removed himself from his bed as he realized that he still had to pack. He clicked on his bedside lamp and watched as the darkness retreated into itself as the light brightened the room. He walked over to his closet to remove his luggage set that was tucked in the very back. Farkle hadn't used it since his last vacation.

He brought out the dark blue three piece luggage set from his closet and sat them in the middle of his room. Huffing out a breath, Farkle began to sift through the forgotten bags. He opened the largest bag first, and smiled as he saw all of the books he had bought during his stay in Norway. At the time Farkle had been interested in the history of the country and began to collect books about its heritage and mythology. He especially found Yggdrasil particularly interesting.

Although, Farkle had to admit that his fascination had been a little biased. He had only gotten interested after watching 'Thor' with his little sister Baylee. Farkle placed the book to the side and figured he could take it with him on the trip for some reading along the way there. He pulled out some old journals he had brought with him to record his experiences and placed them along side the book on Norse Mythology.

It took a half hour to sort through his bags and pick out what he wanted to take with him. With everything that was in them that had laid forgotten in his closet he now had one full bag. He sat that one aside from the rest to keep track and mentally went over everything that he would need to take. The first bag was filled with his books, journals, and some hygiene materials. He figured he'd fill the second bag with his clothes.

Farkle was only going to be there for at least two weeks so he didn't need to pack up his whole closet. He sat up on his knees before walking over to his already opened closet and setting aside some outfits. In total, Farkle had ten outfits picked out and he placed them all in the bag neatly folded. With all the clothes his bag was only halfway full and that was okay because he still needed to pack some night clothes.

Standing up, Farkle walked over to his dresser and pulled out five sets of night clothes. Farkle liked really soft comfortable clothes when he was sleeping so most of his night clothes were silk. Tonight, Farkle wasn't in one of his silk night clothes, he was in some briefs and a large plain white cotton shirt that reached down to his thighs.

Even after placing his night garments into the bag, the clothes didn't fill the bag. Looking around the room Farkle searched for something to fill the empty space left in the luggage. On the top shelf of his closet sat Farkle's neatly placed photography equipment. Smiling brightly, Farkle carefully took down his equipment and gently placed them on the silk night garments. Petting the expensive camera lovingly, he covered them with two outfits.

Glad that the bag was finally filled, Farkle zipped up the luggage and pushed it over to lay next to the other filled one. He sat looking at the last and largest bag wondering what he could fill it with. Sitting back on his haunches, Farkle noticed for the first time since Wednesday that the shopping bags that he had left downstairs were lying closely next to the wall by the window. Sighing, Farkle looked at the luggage that had his clothes in them and wondered if he should go through them and replace some of his already chosen outfits.

No. He was not about to go through his already packed bag and rearrange the outfits he had chosen for himself, he would just pack his new clothes along with the ones he had already chose. Grabbing the colorful bags, he lifted out each article of clothing and folded them in the bottom of the last suitcase. Remembering the list Lucas had made for him, Farkle sat up and walked over to the wicker hamper. Lifting out his pants he sifted through his pockets to pull out the folded piece of notebook paper.

It was a bullet list. The first item was a blanket. Frowning, Farkle went to his closet and pulled out a woven blue and green blanket. It was somewhat thin but it still held in warmth and was so very soft. He folded it up and tucked it into the large bag. Next was a pillow, which okay, should have seen that coming with the blanket. He grabbed one of the many pillows laying on his bed. It was a cobalt color with silver tassels at each corner. It was one of his favorites; bought for him by his mom on one of her splurging sprees.

Farkle continued down the list until most of his suitcase was just about filled and he was at the end of the list. The last things were optional as it stated next to each thing and didn't actually have any real importance. Well, the snacks were important. Farkle had looked up the distance from New York to Texas it was 26 hours for heavens sake, snacks was a must. Fortunately, Farkle's mother had just went grocery shopping this Thursday and they were bound to have a ton of snacks.

It was now 10:34pm and Farkle was just about done with all his packing. He decided that he could store the snacks in a medium sized carry-on bag. Farkle would need money. He walked over to his bedside table and opened up the top drawer. Farkle stored his savings in the books he had no need for anymore. He had cut out the insides like they do in the movies and stuck his money in there.

He pulled out the paint splattered copy of _Dorian Grey_ and opened it up to reveal the rolled up bills inside. Farkle liked his money organized so he didn't have to count through everything. In each one of his books he had the amount of money in each one written within the crease. In _Dorian Grey_ he had $245. Since the book was so small he could only hold a limited amount of money in it. Farkle pulled out the rolled up bills and set them on the untidy bed.

Retrieving some more money inside two other books, Farkle had a total of $1052. Thinking it would be enough, he placed each roll of bills in a circular metal container that sat by his lamp and tucked it safetly in the crook of his suitcase. Smiling since he was almost finished, Farkle grabbed the carry-on bag from the shelf in his closet and left to go pack some snacks from downstairs.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs he paused with the bag clutched in his hand. Stuart, Farkle's dad was sitting on the couch reading over some papers. He looked up when he heard footsteps and smiled at his son. Farkle smiled back and looked down at the bag before looking back at his father.

"I was going to go pack some snacks for the trip tomorrow." At first his father seemed confused before recognition dawned on him and he smiled again. He looked away searching through the briefcase lying one the living room table. Farkle walked closer as he saw his father pull out his wallet. He was about to say something when his father handed over some folded bills.

"Oh, I don't need it." Stuart just raised his eyebrows and extended the money further towards his son further. Farkle sighed but accepted the offered money and smiled in appreciation. When Stuart went back to his work Farkle left to get snacks from the kitchen.

Farkle placed the $300 from his dad in the side pocket in the carry-on bag. He went to the snack cabinet and pulled down all the snacks. He was about to take out some of the snacks to place in the bag when he saw his name on some of the boxes. Confusion flittered across his features as he picked up a note taped down to a box of Fruit Roll-ups.

 _Care bear, all the things that has your name on it is for you to take with you on your trip. I am really happy for you! In case I am not up when you leave in the morning, I hope you have a good time_. _-Mom_

Farkle sighed at the nickname but smiled in spite of himself. _His_ mother. He put all the snacks that didn't have his name on them back in the cabinet and sorted through the ones that did. His mother had gotten him: fruit snacks, 3 different bags of potato chips, a large jar of nutella, 2 packs of cookies, 2 six pack of flavored water, star-shaped marshmallows, brownie bites, and fruity pebbles cereal. Farkle almost wanted to run upstairs and hug his mother with all his strength but she was probably asleep so he opted to do a small happy dance.

He fitted all of the snacks into the bag with just a small amount of difficulty and zipped it up. The bag was bulging but Farkle wasn't worried. He left the kitchen and headed back upstairs saying a 'goodnight' to his father. He placed all of his bags together in the corner of the room.

Farkle was just about to call it a night when he spotted the black eight ball sitting in the pile that had been pulled out from his luggage. Shaking his head, Farkle hesitated before picking up the ball and held it in his hands for a moment. Walking over to his bed, Farkle sat down on his bed and shook the ball for a few seconds. He closed his eyes as he asked whether he should go on the trip or not. When he peeked open his eyes, the little blue triangle inside it read 'Maybe'.

Groaning, Farkle pushed away the ball wincing as it rolled off his bed and crashed to the floor. ' _It was supposed to tell him what to do. Not give him a neutral answer. Should I go on the trip or not!_ ' Farkle turned off his lamp and sulked in his bed until his conscious mind faded into his sub consciousness. He didn't give another thought to the eight ball sitting at the foot of his bed. He also wouldn't know about the small blue triangle that read 'Most Definetely'.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: This chapter may be boring, sorry. Sorry the chapters are really short as well but I wanted to end it here. This was just a little insight on what Farkle likes and how he's taking things so far. The whole snack thing was totally my fault, me LOVE sweets. Sorry for the errors, this is not beta-ed and I suck at editing and things of the like. Hope you like the story so far. I love Kudos and comments they make me happy. Much love <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: This chapter is also dedicated to montonehell and Iceman6599. Enjoy!

That night when Lucas had walked home his head filled to the brim with worries over what he had done. He didn't know why he had done it but he did do it and whatever consequences it brought he was going to have to face them. Lucas wanted to go back and redo this whole day but he couldn't and that made things seem so much worse. If Lucas could go back maybe he wouldn't have been so forward with his new affections, maybe he would have just kept them quiet. He was regretting everything he did today and there was no possible way he was going to be able to take any of his actions back.

<3

Early Friday Morning-Lucas' Home

Lucas, like always, rose from his bed at five O'clock in the morning. It was an hour later than he used to wake up back in Texas on his Uncle's old ranch but he had grown into it. He could hear his momma singing in the kitchen down the hall, and his dad's shower a room over. The smell of pancakes wafting through the little two bedroom apartment. Lucas smiled as another day came and the noises of his house came alive with it.

Lucas rolled out of bed with a small yawn. He stumbled over the mess of clothes littering the floor of his bedroom and stopped at the overstuffed closet. He reached his hand in blindly and pulled out a soft cotton blue button down and a pair of blue jeans. Lucas had just been pulling out a pair of boxers when his Uncle walked into his room. Lucas rubbed at his crust covered eyes and waved a hello.

He was just about to walk out of the room as his Uncle began to dig through his bags by the bed but stopped when he remembered his friend's request. Turning around slowly, Lucas watched his Uncle until he was facing him.

"Kit, ya know if you goin' ta stare, ya better make sure you don' get caught lookin'." Patrick, Lucas' uncle, said as he had some clothes clutched into his rough calloused hands. For the weeks he had been staying with the Friars, he had taken refuge on their old brown leather sofa.

"Well, Uncle Pat I just wanted to talk to you about the trip--" Lucas saw his Uncle's hand raise for him to stop speaking and Lucas closed his mouth.

"I understand Kit if you don' wanna go. Ya got all these friends here an' all, I ain't goin' be mad at cha for wantin' to spend yer summer 'er." His Uncle turned back towards his bags and began yanking on a pair of stubborn jeans.

"No, it isn't that uncle Pat. I want to go. I was just wandering if one of my _really_ good friends could come along for the summer?" Lucas had laid his outfit on the dresser beside the door and stood wiping his hands down his thighs in agitation. He really didn't want to tell Farkle no but if he had to then...

"Wha' fer?" Uncle Patrick said as he stood facing him again along with the stubborn pair of clothing. Lucas pinched the lining of his shorts as he tried to think of something to that question.

"Would ya stop yer figiding, yer makin' me dizzy." His uncle smiled as he stepped over to him, placing a large hand on his shoulder. Lucas looked up the few inches up into his eyes and sighed as he thought of Farkle.

"My friend, Farkle, he doesn't have any place to go this summer. His family's going to London for work and he doesn't want to be home alone. I wanted to know if he could drive down with us, maybe?" Lucas broke eye contact halfway through his explanation. He didn't want to lie, lying was dishonest and there was no use in lying if the truth would surface later anyway.

"Wha' in the world? Wha' kind of name is Farkle?" His uncle looked puzzled just by the fact that someone could name their child something so outrageous. Lucas smiled as he remembered when he had first heard it.

"There is a girl at our school named Smackle." Lucas laughed outright as his uncle scrunched up his face at the equally unusual name.

"These folks are tryin' to get their kids bullied." Lucas's uncle shook his head and leaned his elbow over on the dresser top.

"Yeah, actually I think they were going for the most unique. And both Farkle and Smackle are the smartest kids, they're also enemies." Patrick, Pat, shook his head a small smile stretching his features and he walked past Lucas ruffling his already messy hair.

"Sure kit, he can come. He just better not get motion sick." Patrick walked from the room heading towards the living room. Smiling, Lucas grabbed his clothes off of where he set them down and headed towards the bathroom when he didn't hear the shower running anymore.

<3

Lucas was walking towards Riley's apartment when Maya ran past him hurriedly, shouting out a taunt almost naturally. He smiled and called after her but he doubted that she had heard him. He watched her until she was climbing the fire escape up to her and Riley's bay window. Lucas saw Farkle watching her as well, a look of slight concern morphing his features as he began to climb up the fire escape as well.

Lucas ran towards him before he could climb too much further a smile stretching across his face. "Farkle. Hey! Farkle!" He watched as Farkle turned to look at him over his shoulder before hopping down the small height off the rusted ladder. " I have good news and I have bad news. Which would you like to hear first? Pick the good news." He smiled down at the shorter male as he awaited his answer.

"Okay, well it's a hard decision. Good news, or bad news." Farkle nodded at the good news and shook his head at the bad news. "Hmm...I think I'll choose the...bad news please." Lucas shook his head as Farkle smiled up at him, his lips stretching over his white teeth. "Kidding, HA!" Lucas almost laughed outright as Farkle did his signiture laugh. He settled for a bemused smile as felt arms and neck develop goose pimples. He told himself it was just the weather.

"Well, good news is my uncle Patrick said he's fine with you coming along as long as your parents are okay with it." Lucas smiled excitedly. "The bad news, however, is that...do you have motion sickness at all?" He watched as Farkle's forehead scrunched together as he thought.

"No. Not if I'm occupied." _I could keep you occupied._ Lucas frowned at his thoughts too confused to reprimand himself for thinking something like that about his friend. Although, his thoughts had been verring towards the more intimate of things whenever he thought of Farkle nowadays. But it was not the time for that now.

"What do you mean?" Lucas asked pushing away all thoughts that didn't pertain to the trip.

"I mean that if I'm not thinking about it, then I'm fine." Lucas figured that was acceptable. He was about to say something else but Farkle was moving the strap on his arm, unconsciously stretching his sweater across his shoulder exposing a little more of his skin.

"Okay. Well in that case I'll text my uncle Patrick and tell him that you're good on motion sickness. I need your parents number to give to him though so he can check with them. If that's okay?" Farkle nodded and read him the digits to Mrs. Minkus' phone. Lucas smiled and texted the number to his uncle.

"My mom and dad already know, I asked them yesterday, just in case." Lucas smiled at that and turned his attention to the bay window to watch the girls' climbing down.

"Ladies." Farkle said with a small smile spreading across his face.

"Farkle. Lucas." Both girls nodded respectfully towards Farkle. Riley had a small shy smile as she waved towards him. Lucas smiled back and thought that Riley looked really cute.

They all headed towards school and Lucas idly wondered what was going to happen today.

<3

Lucas was already seated in Mr. Matthews History class when he noticed Farkle sluggishly making his way to his desk. Farkle clutched at his stomach and groaned in pain as he lowered himself into his seat.

Lucas was about to aske what was wrong when Mr. Matthews began roll call. On Mr. Matthews desk was two large trays of variety cookies. Smiling, Lucas thought about all the teachers that had brought sweets for the last day of school. His stomach growled just thinking about all the delicious treats he had eaten.

Lucas turned around to talk Zane when out of the corner of his eye he saw Farkle stumbling his way down the desk aisles. He saw Mr. Matthews take a chocolate chip cookie from one of the trays and extend his hand towards Farkle.

"Would you like a cookie?" Mr. Matthews asked as he kept his hand extended. Lucas saw Farkle's body twitch as if he had too much energy contained in his small lithe form. Out of nowhere Farkle smacked the delicious treat from out of Mr. Matthews hand and he watched as it crumbled across the floor.

"NO! NO COOKIE! NO!" Farkle was screaming as he whipped around to face the classroom, his face contorted in anger and nausea. A thin, blotchy flush settled over his usually pale cheeks and he looked almost crazed. "NO MORE COOKIES! EVER!"

Lucas saw Farkle swivel on his heel just about ready to destroy the rest of the innocent idle platters of cookies, when suddenly Riley spoke up. Farkle paused and turned to look over his shoulder at her as if she as some sort of heavenly being.

"You don't like my cookies?" Farkle turned fully towards Riley, watching her as she placed her head in her cupped hands and pretended to cry. Lucas thought it was kind of pointless because the bag the cookies came in said where they had come from, so he didn't really think the smartest kid the school would believe something like that.

Although, Lucas may have given too much credit to Farkle, because the next thing he knows is, is that Farkle is making a scene about fallen warrior cookies. It had all the class cracking up and once Farkle had shoved one of 'Riley's" cookies down his throat did Maya actually point out that Riley didn't make them.

When Farkle had proved it to himself to be the truth his face turned an awful shade of pale. His flushed cheeks hollowed and he looked ghastly as he ambled his way to his seat. Farkle tried to sit down only to fall flat on his back. When he didn't attempt to get up people began gathering around him. Lucas, Riley, Maya, and Mr. Matthews stood over Farkle watching his eyes fluttering as he peered at them all.

Lucas reached down past the others to wrap his hands around Farkle's thin arms to pull him to his feet. He wasn't surprised when Farkle easily lifted off the ground and fell into his side. Lucas wrapped an arm around Farkle's waist and allowed their bodies to press in together for support. Almost as if it were a habit did Farkle bunch up the fabric of his shirt in his clenched hands.

"Are you okay Farkle?" Lucas spoke into Farkle's ear making sure he heard him. Surprised, Lucas looked down at the slumped body in his arms as he shivered. Lucas wondered if he was cold or if it was something else entirely.

Farkle 'hmm-ed' in response and pressed himself closer into Lucas' side. Lucas was making his way down to the nurse's station with Mr. Matthews permission, his body still wound around Farkle's to keep him from falling over. The parts of his body that was pushed against Farkle's was heated and pleasantly thrumming.

"Well you mom said yes, so I guess we're going to Texas." Lucas looked at the sick expression on Farkle's face and thought about that. "If you're up for it?" Farkle nodded slightly as he pressed his head into Lucas' chest.

Farkle was dragging his feet across the floor attempting to walk but failing. Suddenly Farkle was buckling beside him. Catching him around his chest, his arms held under Farkle's arms, Lucas adjusted his grip so that Farkle had all his weight situated onto him. Farkle groaned out a gurgled, "No more sweets." Lucas smiled.

"Don't worry, we won't give you _any_ more sweets. Do you have to go to the bathroom?" Lucas felt Farkle try to turn away from him, his body doing it's best to try and squirm out of his grasp. Frowning, Lucas thought about what he said. Well considering Farkle couldn't stand on his own he would need assistance _using_ the restroom, but Lucas meant to empty his stomach.

"To throw up." Lucas had tightened his arms around Farkle, careful of his stomach, as he was squirming. When Farkle had exerted all of his energy and slumped back into Lucas' arms he shook his head no. "Do you have to go to the bathroom in _that_ way?

"Noooo." Farkle grumbled and Lucas walked into the nurse's office. Lucas nodded towards the nurse and began to lay Farkle gently on one of the grey beds there.

Lucas watched Farkle turn over onto his side and curl up, clutching his aching stomach. "What's happened to him?" The nurse, Ms. Penniton, asked.

Before he could utter a word Farkle's eyes fluttered open to peer lazily towards them. "Too many sweets, teachers trying to punish me fore being smart." Lucas watched the nurse scoff as she turned away to walk back into her little glass office' Farkle laid a hand over his eyes blocking out the bright lighting.

Lucas walked over to the nurse and she told him that Farkle could stay there until the end of the day, his stomachache should be subsided by then. Lucas thanked her and walked back over to the curled up boy.

Lucas pulled a chair over to the bed and hesitated before he extended a hand to run through the soft brown hair. He heard Farkle sigh and leaned down so that his lips were right beside Farkle's ear. He wanted to see if he would get the same reaction from when he had spoken in Farkle's ear before they had walked out of the classroom. "Are you feeling better?" Lucas lowered his voice and he could feel his breath blowing over the pale expanse of neck shown to him.

Lucas temporarily startled when a soft pleased sound came from Farkle's lips. And when Lucas found his eyes trailing to Farkle's rosey lips he found that Farkle had pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth. Farkle nodded his head but Lucas didn't know what he was agreeing to. Lucas then remembered what he had asked and brushed his lips against the shell of Farkle's ear, "Good." Lucas watched as Farkle shuddered slightly against him as he let out a soft sigh.

Reluctantly, Lucas knew that he had to leave but he wished he could stay and try and cause more shivers to rack the small frame before he couldn't take anymore of it. "I have to go to class." Lucas leaned back in his chair and was about to stand but there was a fist clutched in his shirt. He watched Farkle shake his head and smiled as he took that as a good sign, at least he wasn't the only one that was disappointed about this part. Lucas let a soft laugh to fall from his lips as he placed his much larger hand over Farkle's and removed his hand. Lucas pushed the chair back and left the nurse's office, looking over his shoulder to watch Farkle turn on his back and breath slowly through his mouth.

When Lucas had made it halfway back to Mr. Matthews class the bell rung and students flowed into the halls. He bypassed by some of the baseball team and waved but his mind was still occupied by the small genius laying in the nurse's office. Lucas made his way into the classroom and retrieved his bags. Zane, Riley, and Maya were all waiting for him. He smiled at each of them and walked with them to lunch. He was surprised when none of them had asked about Farkle but then again they were all there. He let it go.

When lunch was over Lucas walked to his Biology class and thought about his feelings during the entire movie playing in the class. He liked Riley. Riley liked him. He...was confused about what he felt for Farkle. Farkle like Riley and Maya.

With Riley Lucas knew that his feelings for her were reciprocated and there wasn't a chance of him getting rejected. But he didn't just like Riley because things were _easy,_ he liked her because she was quirky and sweet and beautiful. She was also nice, loyal and not persuaded by greed. Riley was a wonderful person that was unique and so innocent, he didn't want to date her and find out that she might be the one he actually wants. He didn't want to hurt her, he wanted her always to be the beautiful person that she was.

Lucas, ever since he had seen the more vulnerable part of Farkle, had been slowly developing different feelings for him. That day he realized that Farkle was more than just an over confident genius with a wardrobe malfunction. That day he realized that Farkle was just another kid trying their best to fit in and be unique all at the same time. Farkle was funny, compassionate, loving, quirky, eccentric, smart, loyal, and a myriad of other things. Farkle was so much more than what he knew, he _was_ unique and he was weird and that is something that could never be a fault. He was wonderful and he was one of the most important people Lucas had ever had the pleasure of meeting.

<3

I was the end of the day and everyone, with the exception of Zane, had gathered to stand just outside the nurse's office. When Farkle had walked out of the office Lucas wore a hesitant smile, wondering what would happen since he had been a little more touch-y with Farkle today. But his smile soon fell and was replaced with frown as he noticed that Farkle's smile was directed at Riley and Maya, he had not even acknowledged Lucas at all.

They all headed to Topanga's. Everyone had engaged in coversation now that Farkle was feeling better. Lucas answerd questions that came to him respectively but he had trailed behind everyone else and thought about Farkle. Maybe he had pushed his limits, what if Farkle didn't want to talk to him anymore? Had he misinterpreted the whole situation in the nurse's office? Farkle seemed to be okay with it there, what was different now? Did he find it weird, was he just overwhelmed at the time? Did he find it weird? Did he find Lucas weird? Well he _had_ called him a freak.

Without him realizing it, it had became late and time for everyone to go home, and Farkle had barely talked to him. Was he just lucky to have him talk to him at all? Maybe this was as much as Farkle ever talked to him. Was he just now noticing, how was he jsut noticing this? Did Farkle feel like this? Was he upset that Lucas only talked to him a small portion of the day? Did he even care?

Everyone was leaving already and Lucas stood to follow their lead. Farkle was walking directly in front of him, Riley and Maya already gone, when he suddenly spun around to face Lucas. Lucas had to step back to avoid being slammed into by Farkle. Lucas looked into Farkle's big blue eyes that shined just like the ocean when the sun glitters over it's surface.

"Um, I was wondering if we could talk?" Lucas frowned deepened as he wondered if Farkle only ignored him so that he could talk to him alone. But that didn't explain why he had to ignore him, he could have kept up conversation and still pulled him aside at a later time. Maybe he was uncomfortable with what Lucas did and wanted to confront him alone, that made more sense and Lucas felt his stomach drop. "Are you alright?"

He watched Farkle look at him as if he was studying him. "Yeah. What did you want to talk about?" Farkle motioned towards the couches and they both sat back down in their previous positions. Lucas waited for the expected blowup but it never came.

"About the trip." Lucas wondered if Farkle was just going to ignore it, pretend it never happened but maybe he wanted to tell him that he couldn't go on the trip anymore because of what he did. Lucas closed his eyes and hung his head waiting for Farkle to tell him what he knew was going to happen.

"Oh, um, yeah. Here, this is some stuff that you'll need." Lucas pulled out the piece of notebook paper he had kept in his pocket since he had made it this morning. He gave it to Farkle and watched him to see when he was going to tell him that he wasn't actually going to go anymore. "We'll meet here at eight in the morning, if you have second thoughts on going, then say so before that time."

Lucas saw the confused look Farkle sent to him and wondered if there was something he misunderstood. He began to frown when Farkle nodded and was caught back into the whirlwind that was his doubt.

"I still want to go. Why wouldn't I?" Lucas fish mouthed a few times before he tried looking at all the details. There wasn't all that much to go on but one thing was that Lucas was sure Farkle had been ignoring him. But was he really? Lucas was so confused, and in turn he was making Farkle confused.

Farkle didn't seem to be ignoring the fact that Lucas had practically kissed his ear, because he seemed to not even realize that it had happened. Maybe he had forgotten. Or, maybe he didn't think it was Lucas at all that had done it. If Farkle wasn't aware of how he had felt, whatever he felt, for him then he wouldn't have come to the conclusion that Lucas had done anything. And to make things, worse?--Farkle thought that Lucas just like Riley, so ultimately farkle wouldn't have thought that Lucas did anything.

Farkle didn't know what he did. Farkle wasn't going to tell him that he wasn't going on the trip. Farkle didn't know. Farkle thought that one of the girls had done it. that was why he had been ignoring him, he was too focused on the attention he thought one of the girls had given him. And weirdly that made Lucas upset.

He didn't want Farkle to stop talking to him, but he also didn't want Farkle to think something that wasn't true. He would have to tell him, did he? Yes. He did. If he didn't Farkle would probably take this to a level that would be almost impossible to come down from. He had to tell him...or show him.

Behind him, Lucas heard a soft pop and then flyaway confetti littered the couches. Lucas watched the confetti float and land on his clothes. He turned around and there was Ms. Hart congradulating a newly engaged couple. He turned away from the sight and watched as Farkle kept his eyes focused on the couple behind them.

In his soft chestnut hair was colorful confetti that seemed to make a crown, but maybe that was just what Lucas saw. Without thinking, Lucas reached out his hand and cut through the soft tresses with his fingers. Coming back to himself, Lucas was just about to pull his hand back and apologize when Farkle leaned his head into the touch. Looking down from where his eyes had been gazing at the way the hair tangled with his fingers he saw big blue eyes staring up at him.

Lucas was leant over in his seat and was a breath away from Farkle's face, his nose just barely brushing against the other's. He could feel the stuttered breathing hitting his lips and he wished to lean down just that little bit more. Lucas saw Farkle part his lips and his eyes snapped to them before looking back into Farkle's searching orbs. Leaning in further, Lucas decreased the space between them and he saw Farkle flutter his eyes close. The air between them replaced by sudden heat and tension that right before his lips could touch Farkle's, Lucas trailed his lips over Farkle's jaw up to his ear.

Lucas took in the excited shiver that vibrated through the male beneath him and he pressed a light kiss to the lobe. "Are you okay?" Lucas wanted to know if he should stop, he didn't want to do something that would make Farkle uncomfortable. Lucas felt Farkle press his face closer to his and nod shallowly. "Good."

Lucas leaned back and stood up, his bags hanging off his shoulder. He looked down at Farkle, who had just sat there staring up at Lucas in realization. Lucas let a small shy smile grace his lips as he continued to look at those confused blue orbs. Lucas held out his closed hand and released all the colorful confetti captured there into Farkle's lap. Turning away, Lucas walked out of the store and headed home.

<3

Lucas was lying face down in his bed with all the lights shut off. Now at least if Farkle didn't want to come he actually knew why. And Lucas really should have just kept to himself, let himself only like Riley. He just told, showed, his best friend that he had intimate feelings about him. So if Farkle didn't want to talk to him, see him, be friends with him, he would have no one else to blame but his own selfish desires.

Lucas could only wait to see what Farkle's decision would be tomorrow morning. If he came then maybe their friendship was consolable. If he didn't then...Lucas didn't want to even want to think about that. He had until tomorrow. Lucas set his alarm clock and allowed himself to fall asleep at 4:36am.

<3

Lucas woke up at the same time every morning, five O'clock, an he felt like he was liable to fall dead on the spot. He went about his morning routine and was ready with all of his things at 6:34am. His uncle Patrick was already gone when he had woken up and he found out by his momma that he went to the hardware store for some last minute things.

When Lucas' uncle Patrick came back Lucas was in the kitchen eating blueberry french toast with his momma and dad. When everyone had eaten and the dishes were all cleaned, Patrick thought that Lucas and him should head out to Topanga's. Lucas was crushed in a bear hug by his momma and told to be safe back down in Texas. His father hugged him and patted him on the shoulder before sending him out the door with his Uncle.

Lucas had left all his bags in his uncle's green Explorer van while he sat inside Topanga's. His uncle opted to stay in the car while he waited and Lucas told him that there might be a slight change of plans. His uncle had questioned him but Lucas hand't provided him with an anwser.

Lucas sat by the window waiting to see if he would see the bright sweaters that adorned his favorite genius. _Farkle isn't yours._ Lucas pushed away his thoughts as he continued to stare out of the empty window. He wanted to check the clock hanging on the wall but was afraid of what it would say and he kept his eyes fixed on the still outside world.

When Lucas found the courage to look up at the clock it was ten minutes past eight and Farkle had not arrived. _He isn't coming._ _And it's all your fault._

Lucas rose from the seat he was in and started to make his way back to his uncle's van. He ignored the sting that told him that tears was building in his eyes. He blinked them away, he would not cry, he wouldn't. That's why tears fell down his tanned cheeks. Lucas stopped and leaned against one of the side buildings while he let the tears fall.

_He isn't coming._ _And it's all your fault._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Hope you enjoyed. I made Lucas cry, which is probably OOC, this whole thing is probably OOC, but oh well. I realized I never did a disclaimer-I own nothing but the chosen music for the characters(don't hate me). Hope it was worth the long wait. Much love<3


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: So yeah IDK have this been angsty, I'm not sure. Enjoy!

It was Saturday morning and Farkle was lying asleep in his bed, the covers pushed down to his stomach. He groaned when he turned over and was hit with a face full of sunshine. Farkle cuddled his pillow to his chest as he turned away from the sun and sighed contentedly.

 _Morning_. Farkle snapped his eyes open as he realized once again he had woken up late. He pushed himself off the bed and clattered around the room looking for his bookbag before he realized that it was summer and that there wasn't anymore school. Sighing, Farkle belly flopped back onto his bed and buried his face in his pillow. He was just about to fall back into his dream until he heard the door to his parents bedroom open.

Springing back out of the bed, Farkle remembered today was the day he was supposed to go with Lucas and his uncle Patrick to Texas. Hurriedly swiping his phone from the nightstand, Farkle powered on the device to see that it was 7:34am. He almost collapsed as he looked on at the time, he wasn't going to make it. The subway would take at least a half an hour to get to platform 11.

Lucas said to call him before eight if he wasn't going to go. He wouldn't make it, he couldn't go. Farkle groaned as he fell on his bed. He couldn't go. Farkle pulled his phone onto his chest just about to send a text to Lucas when his door to his room opened. His mother walked in and frowned when she saw him lying still on his bed.

"Good morning Care bear, I thought you were going on that trip with your friend?" She walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, the mattress dipping under her weight.

"I just woke up and I going to be late so I can't go anyway!" Farkle sat up and placed his head in his hands as he thought about Lucas. Lucas was going to think that he didn't want to go on the trip because of him.

"Oh, well if you catch the next train you'll get there at around 8:05am. Just text your friend and ask him if he can wait for a couple of minutes." His mother was rubbing her hand up and down on his back as she tried to console him. Farkle snapped his head up at her and nodded his head excitedly.

"When is the next train?!" Farkle said as he ran over to his dresser to shove on some red cotton bottoms, he didn't have time to pick out an outfit.

"Ten minutes. If you take the train to platform 12 you could walk the rest of the way to get there." She said as she watched him rushing around the room.

"'Kay thanks mother." Farkle shoved his phone into his pants and pulled on all of his luggage to bring it rolling towards the door.

His mother got up from the bed and wrapped her arms around him, kissing his forehead. She slipped something in his pockets before stepping out of the room and heading down the hall. Farkle had shoved his feet into his blue slippers and he was off tripping down the stairs with all of his bags.

Once he reached the bottom his breath was ragged and he had two bruising ankles. But Farkle was not going to stop just because of something as petty as shortness of breath. He called out a breathless 'Goodbye' to his family before he was rushing out of the front door and into the busy streets of New York.

By the time Farkle had made it to the Subway Station he was sweaty and about ready to faint. However, he had made it just in time to board the train before it was due to exit the station. He slumped in his seat as he let the cool contioned air to blow over his sweating face. Farkle's chest was rising and falling rapidly as he tried to calm his erratic heartbeat; he leaned his head against one of the cool metal poles in the train and sighed in contentment.

"Hey! I know you. You're the Farkle." Farkle looked over to see the woman who had been in there class one time. He smiled slightly in her direction and waited patiently for the train to dock into the next station.

"You look like you just ran a marathon." Farkle laughed lightly at that, he didn't have that much breath in him at the time to do his signature laugh.

"Yeah, feels that way to me." Farkle had finally regained control over his breathing and he leaned back in the seat, finally looking fully at 'Crazy hat' as Riley and Maya deemed her.

"Why you rushing?" She asked him from where she sat at the end of the slightly crowded train.

"I woke up late, and I was supposed to meet up with a friend." Farkle explained as he adjusted his luggages to sit still beside his thighs.

"You're meeting a friend...in nightwear? What's so important that you couldn't have gotten ready first?" She had tilted her head down staring at him as if she was peering over the lens of a pair of glasses.

"Oh, um, well I didn't want to give him the wrong idea. And I'm doing this to salvage something really important to me." Farkle looked down to where his hands were wringing together.

"Oh. Why would he have gotten the wrong idea if you didn't show up?" Farkle frowned as he thought about it, of course he knew the answer but he didn't know what to say to _her_.

"Well, I told him I'd be there and I didn't want to lie anymore." Farkle looked back up and heard static go through the speakers before the driver said something about docking soon.

"Well why have you been lying?" Farkle didn't know the answer to that so he just fish mouthed for a few seconds.

"Well, I...I don't...I didn't really want him to know how I was feeling." Farkle shrugged, was that the truth or was it just another lie?

"Why not, he may have had the same kind of feelings. He may have understood what you were feeling." No, Farkle didn't think that was true. He felt like if Lucas left then everything would be destoyed, Riley would be crushed and Maya would be angry because Riley was crushed. Farkle didn't think Lucas knew how he felt, he didn't think he spent anytime being thought about at all.

Fortunately Farkle was saved from answering any further question as the train docked into the station. When the doors opened, Farkle was one of the first people to climb out and make there way out of the station. However, when Farkle reached the steps leading outside he felt a tug on his white tee shirt. He turned around and was face to face with Crazy hat.

"Whatever your reason for believing that your friend wouldn't understand what it is that you are going through you have to at least give them a chance. You obviously care about them a lot, you rushed out of your home in your night clothes just to make sure they didn't get the wrong impression of you. At least give them the benefit of the doubt and trust them with how you're feeling. They may just surprise you." And she turned away from him and walked away.

Farkle didn't have the time to stand around and consider her advice, he had a friend to get to. He rushed up the steps and speed walked down the few blocks towards Topanga's. One the side of the street, parked in a alley way was a forest green van. Farkle was just going to pass it up and slip through the side buildings bordering the small shop when a man stepped out from the alley.

Farkle smiled at him and was just about past him when he reached out and was about to touch Farkle's arm. Farkle stepped back from him and levelled him with a confused look. "Hello?" Farkle kept his bags closer to him and was watching the casually dressed stranger.

"You what your friends call Farkle?" The stranger asked, his hands buried in his pants pockets.

"Why?" Farkle stepped back some more and adjusted his stance so it was poised to run away at any time.

"My name's Patrick, Lucas' uncle and yer designated driver." Farkle nodded as he remembered Lucas telling him about his his uncle, well just his name anyway.

"Uh, where's Lucas?" Farkle asked when he didn't come out from the van sitting in the alley.

"He's waitin' for yer at uh...Topanga's?" Farkle smiled and nodded and was about to walk down the set of stairs turning to lead to Topanga's when Patrick caught him by his arm. Farkle frowned and turned towards him.

"I can place yer bags in the back of the van." Farkle allowed the man to take his luggage and take them to where the back of the van was. When he came back out to lean against the hood of the van Farkle left to go find Lucas.

Farkle had just saw the sign in the window that read 'Topanga's' when he was knocked into by a strong body. Farkle stumbled but didn't fall. He leant against one of the other buildings as he stablized his legs. When he looked up he saw Lucas staring wide eyed at him.

With a sheepish and shy smile, Farkle raised his hand to wave at the other boy. "Hi."

"It's..." Lucas took out his phone and looked at the screen before he looked back up at Farkle. "--It's 8:17am." Farkle wrung his hands together as he watched Lucas stare at him.

"I woke up late. Why are you eyes red?" Farkle tried to direct the attention away from him, at least to try and defuse the tension that had built in the small amount of time he had been standing here. However, Lucas looked away and began to tug at the hem of his shirt hesitantly.

"I didn't think you were coming." Farkle stopped wringing his hands together looking at Lucas like he adn't seen him before. Did he really...did he just admit to being upset because he didn't think Farkle would come? Did he just admit to crying because of Farkle? Farkle wasn't going to go there, he wasn't going to acknowledge it, he wasn't even going to think about that.

"Well I'm here." Lucas nodded and just realized that Farkle didn't have anything with him.

"Are you going to tell me you aren't going then?" Farkle looked at him confused. Why would he come all the way here just to tell him he wasn't going? He would have called, or texted. But then Farkle thought about it, like he said he wouldn't do.

Lucas was upset because he thought Farkle wasn't coming. Farkle was late and that fuelled Lucas' suspicions that Farkle wasn't going to show. Farkle didn't call to tell Lucas that he wasn't going to go. Farkle showed up in front of Lucas without anything. Lucas thought that Farkle was going to reject him, wow that's a role reversal there.

"Your uncle took my bags and placed them inside his van." Farkle watched Lucas heave in a shuddered breath and he smiled when most of all the tension exhaled from his body.

"So why are you in night clothes?" Farkle froze as he conteplated telling the truth. He remembered what Crazy hat had said and inhaled deeply.

"Well I woke up late, like I said before, and I didn't have the time get ready. I just grabbed my bags and rushed here. Do you know how hard I was breathing just to get here to you?" Farkle looked down as he mentally berated himself. _Too much information._

But when he looked up to see the dazzling smile that Lucas was gracing him with, he thought that his embarassment was well worth it. He suddenly felt his cheeks become warmer as he felt the flush rising to his cheeks. Farkle tilted his head down to avoid being watched while he blushed.

Suddenly there was fingers tilting his head back up and he was captured in those beautiful grassy green eyes. He let himself lean into the soft touch and ignored the part of his mind that was telling him that this was a bad idea, telling him that he'd regret this later. Farkle stepped up closer to Lucas and let each breath he took make him closer still. Farkle had grown more since the first time they had met and he was no longer the same height as Lucas' shoulders, now he made it up the the boy's chin.

Lucas brought a hand up to run his fingers through the messy chestnut brown hair, pushing the tangled strands back. Farkle hummed his approval and let his eyes shut as he allowed Lucas to continually play in his hair.

"You know...if what I'm doing makes you...uncomfortable, then tell me. I'll stop." Lucas' breath was brushing against Farkle's cheek and Farkle like the way his skin prickled at the sensation. He wanted to reach out and pull Lucas in more but he was stopped when suddenly Riley floated into his mind. He pulled back and pressed his back into the building behind him. Farkle let a small sad smile grace his lips as he closed his eyes and breathed.

"I'm uncomfortable--" Farkle expected a hurt expression fall over Lucas' face but was relieved when Lucas stepped back and wore a small smile as he nodded. Farkle looked down and wrund his hands together, "--we should go."

Lucas nodded again and they composed themselves before they walked back to where Lucas' uncle stood by his van waiting for them. They both smiled at him and shied away from him when he asked what had taken so long.

"Well, we should get movin'. We'll head to the nearest gas station to fill up the tank and then we'll be off, making our way to Texas." Lucas and Farkle smiled and settled into the van. Lucas sat in the passenger seat and Farkle sat in the seat behind his uncle Patrick.

Patrick started the engine and they were off. Farkle sitting in the back thinking about what he had done. What he had been doing. What he had allowed himself to do. He was developing... _things_ for Lucas. Lucas, the person who liked Riley. Lucas, the person that Riley liked. Lucas, the person that Farkle also couldn't get.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Farkle tells Lucas no!(Kind of, not really) What will happen next? Well it's a long road ahead and Lucas won't be able to resist the temptation that is Farkle, so what will happen? Will Farkle be able to handle the guilt that comes with liking the person that one of his long time best friends likes? Will he? WILL HE? You tell me, comment, kudos, whateva ya like. This is totally fiction. I don't live in New York, so the whole train part in the beginning was me winging it(WOWP). Hoped you enjoyed. Much love<3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Totally inaccurate.

They were stopped at Quick Trip for gas and Farkle took the time to head into the store to buy some food for what would end up being his breakfast. Farkle had thought about eating some of the snacks his mother had packed for him, that is what they were for, but he wanted a sandwich. He walked into the cool air conditioned store and headed over to the refrigerated food section. Farkle scanned the products looking for a croissant egg breakfast sandwich, when he didn't see it he frowned and grabbed an orange Venom to take to register.

After paying for the drink he walked back out to where Lucas was filling up the tank at 4. He smiled in his direction before hopping back into the van. He opened the curtain on his side to let some sun fill the inside of the vehicle. Farkle set the drink down in the cup holder and adjusted his seat back a little as he relaxed in the soft grey seats, pulling his seat belt back over his chest.

"I'm sorry." Farkle blurted out as he sat in the silence. He did feel sorry, he intruded on Lucas's and his uncles trip. Farkle looked down at where he had been unconsciously wringing his hands together.

"What are ya sorry for?" Patrick looked at Farkle through his rearview mirror.

"For intruding sir." Farkle looked up to make eye contact with the man and sunk into his seat in uncomfortable embarassment.

"Oh that ain't nothin' ya gotta be sorry for. 'm glad ya could come, truly. I only come up every few times, it's good to see one of my Kit's friends." Patrick had turned to look out the window when he heard Lucas tap on his window. He rolled down the glass and accepted the card Lucas handed out to him.

"Thank you." Farkle watched Lucas walk to the other side of the van and clamber inside. He turned away from him when Lucas looked towards him and smiled. Farkle's eyes met Patrick's and he was smiling at him before he focused on pulling out.

The traffic wasn't so bad in the mornings as opposed to when it was around noon. It was still early, 8:24am, and Farkle felt his stomach ask for food. He sighed as he placed a hand over his stomach and picked up the Venom from the cup holder. He was about to crack open the drink when he stopped, Farkle set the Venom in his lap as they waited in the slow early morning traffic.

"Escuse me, can we drink in here?" Farkle watched as both Lucas and Patrick turned around to look at him then at the drink sitting in his lap.

"It has a top, yeah." Patrick turned back around and drove forward when the light turned green. Lucas still faced him and had raised brows at him.

"Why are you drinking an energy drink this early?" Lucas asked as he adjusted the seat belt on his shoulder.

"Oh, um, they don't _do_ anything. I couldn't eat so I just decided to grab this when we stopped at QT" Farkle twisted the top off and took a sip of the tangy delicious liquid.

"Why didn't ya eat breakfast?" Patrick asked as he glanced quickly at Farkle in the mirror before looking back at the road.

"I woke up late. That's why I'm still in my sleep clothes." Farkle drunk some more just to quiet his stomach.

"Ah, I wasn't gonna say anything 'cause everyone has their own style, but I was wonderin'." They were turning right down on Hudson St. and then a slight left to enter the Holland tunnel on I-78.

"He does have a unique sense of style, I can't wait for you to see it." Lucas was talking to his uncle and Farkle sat quietly in the back slowly drinking his Ven eom.

When they were stuck in traffic, Farkle took that as an opportunity to unbuckle his seat belt and climb into the back to pull out his smallest suitcase. He climbed back into his seat and buckled his seat belt, his bag settle over in the other seat. They were beginning to move again and and Farkle had to stay seated.

Pulling over the now acclaimed luggage, Farkle unzipped the bag and pulled his Norse Mythology book. He zipped back up the bag and set it back into the seat next to him. He opened the book from where he had left off the last time he had begun to read it.

Farkle was interrupted from his book when he realized there was eyes set on him. He looked up slowly and found grassy green eyes settled on him. Confused, Farkle smiled and looked down at the book sitting on his knee beginning to continue reading.

"What are you reading?" Lucas asked as he tried to peer down at the cover of the book that was hidden by Farkle's hand. Farkle lifted the book and moved his hand so that Lucas could read the title. "Norse Mythology. Like with Thor and Loki?"

Farkle nodded and hesitated before handing the book to Lucas. He watched Lucas take the book and flip through the pages before landing one and begin reading.

"A cosmic ash tree, Yggdrasill, lies at the center of the Norse cosmos. Three roots drink the waters of the homeworlds, one in the homeworld of the gods, the Æsir, one in the homeworld of the giants, the Jǫtnar, and one in the homeworld of the dead. Beneath the root in the world of the frost giants is the spring of Mimir, whose waters contain wisdom and understanding. The root in the Æsir homeworld taps the sacred wellspring of fate, the Well of Urðr. The tree is tended by the Norns, who live near it. Each day, they water it with pure water and whiten it with clay from the spring to preserve it. The water falls down to the earth as dew." Farkle smiled as Lucas tried to pronounce the Norwegian words, he failed but it was sort of c-...funny.

"Hey isn't Loki Jǫtnar?" Farkle accepted the book back and nodded as he flipped back to the page he was on. He looked out the window and saw a green sign that said Interstate 78. They were in New Jersey. Up ahead was the Garden State Parkway exit said another sign they were passing.

Farkle turned back to his book when Lucas started to ask his uncle about one of his horse's. He read on about the nine worlds and their occupants until Farkle felt the road change. Instead of the relatively smooth roads on the Interstate they were on slightly bumpy roads. Farkle looked out the window and they had exited the interstate and turned right at the fork to head into Cherryville, New Jersey.

Farkle watched the building appear as they entered further into the city. There was people gathering in the streets farther up and the road had been closed off. Patrick parked on the shoulder of the road and cut off the engine. "First stop." He said as he unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car.

Farkle turned towards Lucas with a confused expression and was glad to see that Lucas hadn't left yet. "On our way to Texas, we stop off at a few places to make the trip more fun." He explained as he got out as well. Farkle hurriedly set down his book and scrambled out of the class as well.

Lucas was waiting for him outside the van and they started off towards the huge crowd gathered. Lucas began to explain about why this was a stop of.

"Last year my uncle had to use my aunt's car because his was in the shop and it had broken down a little ways back. The tow company in town had took us here and we had to stay here a week. My aunt's car is old so they had to order the parts. We met a few of the locals and got along real well with a general most of them." Lucas finished, he was looking at Farkle, giving him his undivided attention.

"Oh, where did you stay?" Farkle could only keep eye contact with Lucas for a few seconds before he felt pin prickles all over his skin and had to look away from those green eyes.

"We slept in a motel a mile or so down the road. It was quite fun, there was a carnival in town that weekend." Farkle lit up at the mention of a carnival and happily ignored the ache in his stomach as he thought of all the fun rides and treats.

"I LOVE carnivals!" Farkle rocked onto his heels as he grew excited thinking about carnivals. Next to him, Lucas was laughing softly and studying Farkle.

"You LOVE carnivals, why?" Lucas turned away from the happy Farkle and focused on the nearing crowd, he couldn't watch him like that. He couldn't look at those joy filled blue _blue_ eyes for too long or else he might want to get closer and he couldn't. Farkle told him he was uncomfortable with what he had been doing. Lucas knew Farkle did enjoy what he did, he was there to see he was doing to him, but Farkle didn't want to engage in things such as those so Lucas wasn't going to do anything. No matter how much he wanted.

"It's a carnival! They have rides, treats, treats, treats, and...TREATS! More specifically cotton candy! I may just LOVE cotton candy more than carnivals." Farkle swung out his arms in his excitment and accidentally smacked Lucas in the chest. Lucas looked down at the arm and watched as Farkle turned around towards him, his eyes wide in shock.

"I am so sorry. Are you okay?" Farkle reached out his hand and then pulled it back swiftly, doing this until he finally decided to place a gentle hand on Lucas's chest. Farkle watched his hand, mesmerized by the soft and firm muscle underneath his hand. He wanted to press harder into the chest and trail his hand down, watching his movements wondering if he would be stopped. With that thought, Farkle flicked his blue eyes up to Lucas's watching ones and licked over his lips hesitantly.

Lucas wanted to pull Farkle in by his waist and press their foreheads together as they just stood there and breathed in the same air. But he couldn't, he wouldn't do anything, he had to let Farkle do that. Unless Farkle asked him to do something of course. Lucas watched as Farkle watched him and he felt himself lean towards the slightly shorter male naturally.

In the distance there was a whistle and Farkle took his hand away turning around so that he was facing the same way as he had before. Lucas sighed as he wondered what would have happened if they hadn't been interupted. Looking for his uncle, Lucas spotted him about to cut through the crowd.

Taking a hold of Farkle's hand Lucas began to run towards his uncle to catch up and prevent being left behind. They caught him as he began to squeeze his way through the crowd and they walked with him through and around all the people. When they emerged on the other side they stood watching a young lady cut a bright shiny blue ribbon.

Over their heads was a colorful banner exclaiming the 57th anniversary of the 'Folgers Afternoon Delights'. Farkle was about to clap with the rest of the crowd but found that he had forgotten that his hand was encased with Lucas's. Feigning ignorance, Farkle let his hand stay wrapped around Lucas's and watched everyone else as they listened to an elderly woman speaking over a microphone. Everyone began to clap again and Farkle felt the hand in his twitch as if Lucas was about to start clapping as well. Out of the corner of his eye, Farkle could tell Lucas was watching him and he sneaked a quick peek.

Breathing in a shallow breath, Farkle slid his hand out Lucas's and began to clap along with everyone else. His heart was thudding rapidly in his chest and Farkle didn't have the slightest idea why this was happening.

Patrick was walking across the street towards the place where the elderly woman had just made the announcement from. Farkle began walking after him, trying to push aside the foreign feeling stirring inside his chest. He could feel Lucas's presence right behin him and he tried to push that away as well. Farkle entered the small ice cream shop after Patrick and held the door open for Lucas.

"Thank you." Farkle smiled and nodded although he knew that Lucas couldn't see him.

Farkle took in the 1950's theme of the small shop and appreciated the cool air blasting out of the fans. He ran his hands over the taut red covering on the seats and piano keyed over the cool metallic surfaces.

" _'Cause tonight baby, you're mine...,"_ an older song was playing over the speakers in the shop and Farkle smiled as he realized what song it was. He hmm-ed along with the lyrics as he found a seat in the packed place. He sat in one of the booths by the window and against the wall. He had been playing with the checkerboard tabletop when Lucas slid in the seat across from him.

Farkle looked up and smiled his top lip pulled between his teeth as he looked on nervously. Patrick was chatting with an old man standing behind the counter, they both seemed to be engrossed in their conversation. "You know this song?" Farkle turned back to Lucas and frowned before nodding slowly.

"It's Dionne Warwick." Farkle looked up when the elderly lady he saw outside sidled up to their table.

"Well it's nice to see you again Charming." The old woman said as she pulled Lucas into a awkward hug. "And I see you brought your...".

"Friend. Farkle Minkus. Mrs. Folger, Farkle Minkus. Farkle Minkus, Mrs. Folger." Lucas introduced them and Farkle smiled up at Mrs. Folger as she extended a hand. Farkle shook her hand and said casual pleasantries.

"Well, I'll send over a waitress to take your order. It was nice meeting you Farkle and a pleasure seeing you again Charming." She walked off and waved over the young woman that had cut the ribbon from before. Farkle faintly felt like he was missing something important as Mrs. Folger said something to the young woman in secret.

"Helllo Lucas! It's been a whole year, how did you survive without me?" The pretty brunette bounced over and had her hip cocked as she turned her back towards Farkle.

"Well Mandy I just don't know, maybe it was the thought of you here that kept me going." Farkle closed his mouth as it fell open and watched as Mandy flipped her long greasy hair over her left shoulder.

"Well maybe you shouldn't leave, who knows what'll happen if you leave again. I don't think your body will be able to handle the separation." She stepped closer to Lucas and Farkle tilted his head to the side as he watched them through glaring eyes. Breathing in deeply, Farkle looked away his features relaxing as he waited to hear Lucas's response.

"Are you implying that i'm not strong enough?" Farkle was close to scoffing at that. He felt Lucas's muscles, he didn't have that much to brag about.

Mandy gasped falsely and slid into the seat next to Lucas wrapping her bony hands around one of his arms. She traced down his arm with her hand and squeezed the muscles settled there. Okay so _maybe_ Farkle lied but that trashy brunette had no right to touch all over Lucas. He belonged to...Riley. He belonged to Riley Matthews. Lucas belonged to Riley Matthews.

"I would like to order." When both heads turned to him he pasted on a large grin. Mandy, the trashy brunette in the cherry lipstick with a flat chest and a flat ass...Farkle froze as he reprimanded himself for thinking such awful thoughts. Mandy, the...lovely brunette looked at him as if he was the most annoying person in the world, he got that alot.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." She slid out of the booth and stood up her form exerting annoyance as she faced Farkle. "What can I get you?" Her voice was tight laced with hatred. You would think Farkle had killed her dreams the way she was staring at him.

Farkle raised an eyebrow and smirked as he looked around the table. "Well a menu would be appropriate." Farkle pushed as much snark and boredom into the comment as could. She clenched her fists and grinded her teeth as her face flushed in anger.

"Very well." She stomped off in a fit and Farkle watched her. Farkle made sure to place a bored mask on as she was walking back to the table. She set the menu's down extra carefully trying not to give her anger away. "Here you are."

Farkle slid the lamenated menu towrds him and looked over the selections. When the brunette was just about to turn towards Lucas Farkle looked up at her and cleared his throat.

"Are you ready?" She asked falsely politely.

"No. But when we need you we'll call for you. We don't _need_ you." Farkle did a small shooing motion with his hand and watched her stomp off in idignation. out of the corner of his eye, Farkle could see the shock written on Lucas's face but he ignored him out of anger.

Farkle looked back down at his menu and ignored it when Lucas cleared his throat seeking to be aknowledged. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers as a signal for Mandy.

"Farkle?" Farkle didn't even twitch when Lucas laid a hand on his, although his insides did swoop and tingled pleasantly. Farkle closed his eyes and removed his from under Lucas's as he focused on Mandy.

"Are you ready now?" Mandy asked, her voice coming out through gritted teeth.

"Yes. I would like the 'German Chocolate Bowl' and a glass of strawberry milk." Farkle dug his hands through his pockets and took out a twenty. He handed the folded bill to Mandy and turned to look out the window. He was sure he didn't want to be watching this next part, I'd make his sick.

"And what would you like my _dashing_ Prince...Charming." Farkle is pretty sure he threw up in his mouth from the all too sweet tone of the she devils voice. He just continued to look out the window, silently and slyly watching his occupants through the reflection in the glass.

"Um, I would like the 'Triple Brownie Delux' please and thank you." Lucas sounded far away almost as if he wasn't paying attention. And he wasn't, he was watching Farkle in the reflection and didn't even realize Mandy huffing then stomping away. In the glass Farkle smirked and looked over at Lucas's face in the reflection. They locked eyes and Farkle felt his stomach jolt. He looked away and turned to looked down at the table.

When Mandy returned she nearly threw the items on the table. She dropped Farkle's and Lucas's change on the table and stomped off. Farkle smiled to himself as she left and he gathered up his spare change, $8.83.

They ate their treats in relative silence, up until Lucas pushed away his half empty plate of gooey chocolatey-ness. "Why are you ignoring me?" Farkle looked up from his waffle bowl and stared at Lucas for a second.

"I'm not mad at you." He sighed and pushed away his dessert that was actually his breakfast. Toying with the spoon in his ice cream he avoided looking at Lucas.

"You're doing it now. You won't even look at me." Lucas exclaimed dejectedly.

"Well I haven't been able to look at you for long these past few days, what's the difference now?" Farkle brought a small spoonful of chocolate ice cream and coconut to his lips, smearing the delicious confection over his lips. He licked off the treat and smiled as he had to wipe away some of the runaway chocolate sauce that slid down his chin.

When Farkle looked back up, Lucas was staring at his lips. "Don't _do_ that." Lucas closed his eyes and leaned his head on the back of the seat. Farkle smacked his lips and brought some more ice cream to his lips.

"Lucas." When Lucas was looking at him, Farkle licked off all of the chocolate. He pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth and sucked on it until Lucas looked away.

"Don't do that." Lucas put his head in his hands and groaned aloud. Farkle smiled and began eating in spoonfuls again. "Why did you do that?" Lucas looked at Farkle and levelled him with a harmless glare. "You said you were uncomfortable, so I'm trying to back off. But you...you keep. Ugh, you keep making me want to kiss you."

"That-I-it wasn't my intention. I'm sorry." Farkle looked down and silently finished up his ice cream. When Lucas was done they called over Mandy and she took away the dirty dishes.

Mandy skipped back to their table her mood magically restored to it's former sickly sweet nature. She smiled at both Farkle and Lucas and without annoyance or hatred. "Do you want to go to Charity Park?" The question was directed towards Lucas, of course.

"Oh, thank you Mandy, but we were only stopping through. We are going to be back on the road soon, I'm sorry." Mandy didn't look dejected as Farkle had hoped she would, which is mean he knows but it's just, he didn't _like_ her.

"I asked your uncle Patrick and he said it was fine if you came along." Mandy smiled as she waited for Lucas to accept her offer, no doubt in her greasy little mind about him saying no to her. Farkle looked away and focused on 'Handy man' by James Taylor coming out of the speakers.

"Okay, sure. Can my friend Farkle come along?" Her smile wavered as she looked a cross between upset and amused. She cleared her throat and turned towards Farkle and smile stretched across her tanned face.

"I don't mind if..." She leaned down close to Farkle's face and her smile widened. "...Farkle comes along." She popped back up and settled her hands on her hips.

"Don't wear it out. I'm fine staying here." Farkle looked down at the table as he listened to the song change, it was by Dolly Parton, however, he couldn't name what the title to the song was.

 _"Islands in the stream, that is what we are. Nowhere in between..."_ Farkle tapped his fingers to the beat and smiled as he figured out the title. 'Islands in the stream'.

"Aw, well I guess it's just me and you Lucas." Mandy looked back at Lucas her smile bright and genuine.

"You an I." Farkle corrected habitually. Both occupants looked over at him, one was confused and the other was amused.

"Like the One Direction song?" Mandy asked as she furrowed her brows. Farkle snorted and shook his head.

"I guess it's just you and I Lucas. You said it wrong." Farkle didn't do it intentionally but the way Mandy bristled when she figured out that he was correcting her was brilliant.

"No one likes a grammer Nazi." She huffed as she turned around. She flipped her hair and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well when Farkle Nation finally reigns everyone will have perfect grammer and whoever doesn't will have to work meager jobs." Farkle dusted off imaginary lint from his white tee shirt and watched as Mandy turned towards Lucas and gave him a look that blantantly said 'is he nuts'.

"Well since that'll never happen..." Mandy smiled pleasantly and went back to staring at Lucas.

"Oh I can assure you it'll happen, in fact it's already happening. The divided world you know will crumble before your eyes and become what will be the civilation for the gods." Farkle had slid out of the booth and did one of his random speeches as if he was back in Mr. Matthews history class. And since he had everyone's attention..."Thank you, I am Farkle!" He bowed and strutted out of the little shop in his blue slippers and nightwear.

When Farkle walked into the morning sun he had realized that he hadn't talked to Riley or Maya since the last day of school. He pulled out his phone that had been weighing down his pants bottoms and dialled Riley's number.

"Hello Farkle. Happy first day of summer vacation." Riley answered on the other end of the line. Farkle smiled and walked over to the side of the building, out of the way of pedestrians.

"Hello my sweet ray of sunshine. How is your summer starting off? Tell Maya that she is the mysterious shadow that lurks in the light of day for me." On the other end of the phone, Farkle heard Riley tell Maya 'hi' for Farkle.

"Maya says 'hi'. My summer is beginning great, I was surprised when you didn't pop up though." Farkle smiled and then sighed when he realized he'd have to tell them where he was.

"I'm going to Texas." Farkle waited for it to click but he realized he'd have to tell Riley what he meant when she didn't quite understand.

"Lucas is going to Texas too, maybe you'll see him. If you do tell him i said 'hi'." Riley exclaimed.

"I'm going to Texas, _with_ Lucas." He waited as the silence on the other end othe line made him want to wring his hands together.

"Why didn't you tell me!" Riley rambled over the other and Farkle could only make out a few key words.

"It was more of a last minute decision. I'm sorry." Farkle saw that his hair was sticking up in places as he faced a clearer reflective surface. He brought a hand to his head combing through the tangles and flattening the rebellious strands.

"Well since you're there, you can keep me posted on who he's with. Can you, please?" Farkle frowned and tugged nervously on his shirt.

"Yeah. But I have to go for right now, I'll keep you posted. Bye my dove." Farkle waited to hear Riley click off first before he ended the call.

Farkle had two missions: Operation Keep Lucas Away From Girls, and Operation Bring Lucas Back was in progress. He really needed to work on the names.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Farkle said a bad word ohhhh! Hope you enjoyed. Much love<3


	8. Chapter 8

Lucas turned around in the booth and watched Farkle walk out of the small diner. He couldn't help the smile that stretched across his face as Farkle seemed to snap back into his old personailty. With everything that was now becoming more and more real Lucas thought that he had been witnessing a side of Farkle unbeknownst to him. He hadn't yet figured out if it was a good or a bad thing at the moment, but the brief moment of familiarity that was just showcased made it apparent that there was this pressure hanging over them.

Lucas decided in that moment that he needed to figure out what his intentions were towards Farkle and then determine what to do from there. He knew that he felt some sort of way when he was around the other, however, he didn't know how far his attraction stretched. He wanted to know whether it was an extinguishable puppy love or something much more complicated and long-lasting.

Lucas mentally berated himself for letting his obvious, yet undeterminable, attraction to his friend blind him from taking a more stable and reasonable path. As he began to slid out of the booth he had to pause since he had forgotten that Mandy was still leaning against the table and blocking him in.

"Excuse me Mandy." Lucas asked politely as he gave a weak smile and prepared to leave the booth when she finally decided to move.

When she stood up fully and he was allowed to leave the booth he began walking to the entrance to the diner preparing to go find Farkle. He, however, was not prepared for Mandy to latch onto his right arm and place her head against his shoulder. He stopped and looked down at her beaming smile before sighing and beginning to finish his trek to the doors.

He was startled when they were about to reach the doors and she finally began to speak. "Sooo...what's wrong with your _friend_? I mean he must have some screws loose if he thinks he can take over the world. Don't you think so? Because he's so small and if you plan on taking over the world you either have to be like some sort of genius or really intimidating. I mean that's what I think anyway. And he obviously isn't all that intimidating, he kind of reminds me of a hamster. I had a hamster once; it was deaf. Lucas?"

Lucas had to blink to focus his mind on the onslaught of information that was just rapidly spit out at him. He wanted to ask he really did but he restrained himself and in favor focused on the Farkle based statements. Lucas had stopped and turned toward Mandy making sure no part of him was touching any part of her.

"Mandy I like you but there is nothing wrong with my friend and I don't appreciate you implying otherwise. Actually no, you did not _imply,_ you very bluntly stated that you thought he had 'some screws loose'. And I do not agree, because to be quite frank I believe he has the ability and perserverance to take over the world and I would personally like to see what he does with it. Another thing is that you shouldn't say someone can't do something based on their appearance. And Farkle is the smartest person I have ever met."

Lucas huffed out a breath and looked at Mandy almost angrily but realized that they were drawing attention to themselves and began to push open the doors to the diner. He only had a foot out of the door when Mandy wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him from behind. Lucas rolled his eyes and stopped himself from pushing her off of him out of respect as he continued outside.

"You like me. You know I've always knew you did." Sighing under his breath and mentally asking himself 'why' Lucas squinted when they walked out into the bright morning sun. He should have known that she would only have taken that from everything he said, although, he didn't remember her being this...whatever this was. Anyway, he had someone he needed to look for.

Lucas didn't respond to Mandy and looked around to see if he could spot the pajama clad genius. He was about to go over to the van and see if Farkle had climbed back inside of it but he remembered that it was probably locked. He looked down the streets walking down a little before he almost passed an alley containing his friend. He turned towards him and gave a small genuine smile as he saw him leaning against the building looking down at his phone.

"Hey! Farkle why'd you leave?" Lucas waited but Farkle didn't look up or even acknowledge him. 'Maybe he's upset with me' Lucas thought as he watched Farkle continue to fool around on his phone. 'Maybe he just didn't hear me, he could be zoning out again' Lucas walked closer choosing to ignore Mandy still clutching onto him.

"Uh, Farkle?" Lucas was close enough to place a hand onto Farkle's shoulder, knowing it should get his attention. He was glad when Mandy finally released him and stepped back to give them more room.

Farkle shook his head and then looked up at Lucas as if Lucas had startled him out of a daze. Farkle smiled up at Lucas and briefly looked at Mandy before focussing back onto Lucas. "You okay?" Lucas said as he smiled hesitantly as he watched Farkle smile widely back at him.

"Yeah, just updating my mother." Lucas smiled and watched him send another quick text before pocketing his phone and standing up fully.

"Oh, okay. Well, do you want to go to the park with me and Ma...do you want to go to the park with Mandy and I?" Lucas ran an embarassed hand through his hair and watched as Farkle smiled at him.

"No. I think I'll just head back inside and wait until we leave again. You go, though. Have fun." Farkle smiled wryly at Lucas and tried to push him back as he realized their too close proximity.

As Farkle let his hand lie against Lucas's abdomen, Lucas could feel the muscles in his stomach fluttering at the warmth spreading from the contact. Breathing in deeply Lucas brought a hand up to trail lazily up along Farkle's arm. He closed his eyes and remembered what he told himself what he would do and let his hand slowly encase Farkle's wrist to pull it away from his stomach and lay it against Farkle's side.

Lucas took a step back and gave Farkle a small quick smile before nodding slowly and turning to Mandy. He wanted to spare a brief glance back at Farkle but restrained himself and walked down the street with Mandy tightly gripping his forearm. After they passed an apartment complex, two blocks away from the diner, Mandy decided they were a safe enough distance away to begin to talk again. Lucas started off listening to everything she said but began to lose himself in his own thoughts and unconsciously keeping up the appearance of actually listening.

Lucas knew that he had begun to feel romantically attracted towards Farkle during his more vulnerable time. It still baffled him sometimes that people still let labels control their choices in who to befriend, or become romantically involved with. However, Lucas could admit that his feelings toward Farkle before that week had been confusing and somewhat eye opening.

Before moving to New York Lucas had been in the company of others that wasn't necessarily popular, but they were generally liked by others. Not to say Farkle isn't liked, it was just that his usual friends were liked because they were jokers not people overtly intelligent. And Lucas found that he really enjoyed the difference.

And when Farkle had thought that he didn't deserve them as friends it was as if something inside Lucas had snapped and broken. Lucas knew that it was just how he felt, nothing inside of him had snapped just because of something someone said. Of course what that person had said was cruel and out of jealousy but Farkle shouldn't have had to be subjected to that just because. And when he did Lucas just he felt like...like he wasn't a good friend. If he had been a better friend then Farkle wouldn't have continually asked him that week why he was his friend.

If he had been there then Farkle wouldn't have had to question himself; if he had been there then he could have told Farkle that he was important, that he was more than deserving of them as friends.

Lucas stared hard at the ground and allowed Mandy to pull him the rest of the way to the park. He knew that there wasn't any magic in the word 'if' and that he couldn't go back and change what had happened. However, that never stopped Lucas from wishing he could; it never stopped him from wishing he knew why Farkle was so vulnerable in the first place.

Lucas was pulled from his thoughts about his friend when he was jumped on from behind. He bent over to balance the weight and jerked his head away from the brown strands of hair tickling his nose. Lucas tried to look up and face Mandy but he couldn't manage it in the position he was in and truthfully he was glad to be dragged out of his mind.

He looked around at Charity Park and smiled as he remembered sitting out here last summer. Lucas rested his hands against Mandy's legs for extra support and began to walk down the dirt and gravel path towards the fountains. It was the beginning of summer break so many people, a majority of them kids, were in the park minding to their own business.

Once they reached the stone fountain Lucas gently set Mandy down on one of the metal benches. And took the opportunity to look more closely at the surrounding areas. Through the trees he could see people milling about and setting up what looked to be a carnival. His brows furrowed and he turned to ask Mandy about it.

"Is there a celebration going on today?" Lucas sat down next to her on the bench and awaited an answer as he watched the various people setting up tents and rides. He focused back on Mandy when she cleared her throat demanding his attention.

"Wellll-" She said drawing it out in an annoying fashion, Lucas only barely remembered to not roll his eyes. "-'Folgers Afternoon Delights' is going international! That's what the big ribbon cutting ceremony was for. My grandma had remodelled the diner after she signed off on all the paperwork. And you came just in time for the BIG celebration!" Mandy exclaimed as she threw herself over his legs, her head cushioned on his thigh.

Nodding Lucas looked down at a beaming Mandy and internally sighed as he shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I'm happy for you and your family." Lucas gave a small smile and leaned back into the bench enjoying the spring breeze.

They sat in silence both relatively content aside from Lucas being slightly uncomfortable. He looked up at the trees swaying gently and covering them in shade from the warm morning sun. Lucas had kept his thoughts at bay for the moment before he was once again whisked away to ponder on them.

He knew that he would always regret not showing Farkle that he meant a great deal to him; even if they didn't develop a more romantic relationship Lucas would continue to show how important he was to him. It wasn't something he was willing to risk, Lucas didn't want Farkle to have to question him or himself. He still wasn't completely sure what his interest in Farkle was and how solid it would turn out to be, however, he would saw off his own foot before hurting his friend.

Lucas felt that he needed to reign in his feelings so he could better understand them. He berated himself when he realized the possible consequences for attempting to do just that. Lucas didn't know why but he knew that Farkle was sensitive. Since he had already started outwardly expressing his yet undeterminable feelings for him it would seem strange to revert back to just being friendly. Farkle might get the idea that he had lost interest in him, or that he was only joking in the beginning. Which would not only be not true but it would undoubtedly hurt Farkle and his already low self esteem.

Lucas thought he knew Farkle pretty well, even for not knowing him for that long a time. However, he knew when to admit that there were things about a person that he didn't know or just didn't get. Farkle seemed overtly confident in himself and in his abilities but someone that confident wouldn't tear at the seams if there weren't already rips. And no matter how many times he had stitched himself back together and built walls to protect him from the hurt it always seemed like things got through no matter what.

He just wished he knew how to proceed without creating a giant mess out of all of this. He didn't want to get hurt and he also didn't want to hurt anyone else. Lucas just needed something simple, he needed someone to tell him what to do. Because aside from what his friends thought of him he was not a 'Golden Boy', he was not 'Lucas The Good', and he didn't always know the best way to deal with things. He needed help but there wasn't anyone to help him.

Lucas sighed and opened his eyes again, peering through the trees at the bright white ball that was the sun. He was no closer to finding a solution to his problem than he had been twenty minutes ago. Suddenly there was excited tingles shooting up his spine and he jumped up from the bench as he felt goose pimples cover his arms. Lucas smiled brightly as he remembered something Farkle had told him earlier and he was about to walk off when a groan came from behind him.

Sighing internally he turned back around to see Mandy lightly glaring up at him from where she was lying on the grass, having been knocked off by Lucas's sudden movements. Extending a hand towards her with a slight grimace on his face, Lucas helped her up and ignored the glare that intensified when she had to knock ants off her clothes.

"Sorry." Lucas said trying to appease her more than actually apologize. He knew it was mean, however, he had just remembered something he deemed a little more important than her anger directed at him so...

"What got you in a twist anyway?" She asked after making sure there was no more insects crawling along her body. She had stopped glaring but Lucas thought she was still a little peeved off.

"Oh, not much really. I just remembered something important." Lucas said as he fiddled with the hem of his shirt. He motioned for them to start walking towards the set up of the carnival and waited for Mandy to begin walking along with him.

Once they had reached the clearing where the carnival was being set up at, Lucas took the opportunity to begin looking around at the different booths. He mentally checked off which ones he would like to go to with Farkle when everything was set up. Lucas had stopped at the vendors tents and looked inside, watching as people where setting up different contraptions . Without really thinking what he was doing he went around the side and sidled up to a big beefy man with a greying moustache.

"Do you sell cotton candy sir?" He saw the man startle and look meanly at him before begrudgingly nodding his clean shaven head. Beaming at the man Lucas thanked him and left the tent before running into Mandy waiting outside. She had a scowl on her face at being left and had the audacity to stomp her foot and demand an answer from him.

"I asked them if they were going to serve cotton candy." Lucas explained as he walked off to look at more vendors. Before he could make it five more steps he was roughly grapped around the forearm and turned to face an indignant Mandy. He smiled pleasantly and chuckled quietly when she paused smiled back and then resumed fuming.

"Look here _Charming,_ I don't have to waste my whole day babysitting you. I could leave you here with no way to get back if you don't start showing some god damned respect towards me." Mandy said with a growl before realizing what she was doing and straightening her stance and trying to give off an air of indifference. 'Trying' being the operative word in this case.

"Well Mandy since you are so eager to place things in perspective, why don't I have a go at it? First off, we walked five blocks from the diner. I know how to find my way back. Second, you are not allowed to call me 'Charming' _ever_ again, my name is Lucas. Third, go ahead and leave. Like I said before, I don't need you here because I can find my own way back. So go on and find someone else to _babysit_ Mandy." With that Lucas turned on his heel and paused before turning back to an angry and confused Mandy before bowing and extending his arms above his head.

"Thank you, I am Lucas!" He laughed and walked away to inspect some more vendors.

 

So FINALLY the eighth chapter is up. I'm am incredibly sorry for the R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S long break. And I hope that you don't come find me and decide to kill me. I appreciate every single Kudos and Comment from all of you and apologize if I am unable to respond to all of them.

*stops to sing along to the chorus of Heels over Head by Boys Like Girls* :))

Now for some announcements:

1\. I've just started school again. I'm gonna be a Junior :))/:((

2\. (This one is for Xander) the rest of your idea will be present in the next chapter :)))

3\. Again a HUGE thank you to everyone that decided to stick around and push me forward toward another chapter! You all are amazing!!

4\. I've been posting reply's from my phone when I can find a WiFi signal because I have no internet :(

5\. I already started writing the next chapter and it shouldn't take forever to post it.

6\. And this is the last one. I would love love LOVE for any ideas on where you all would like this story to go. I will read each and try to place each of them in the story, probably with a few tweaks from me :)

 

**Author's Note:**

> The posting may be a bit erratic, sorry. Yes or No? The formatting may be a bit screwed.


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